Trials of the Phoenix
by tedsta12345
Summary: Tells the story of Dallon Rikar, a young Jedi at the end of the Clone Wars. As Dallon prepares to become a Jedi Knight, he soon realizes that the Sith are not the biggest threat facing a galaxy far far away. He soon discovers an impending and ancient evil whose ultimate goal is not domination but annihilation. A Star Wars/Mass Effect crossover.
1. Chapter 1

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 1

He saw two dark and cloudy figures in a windowed room. One was kneeling in front of the other and he couldn't see much of him. The standing one was facing him and he could just barely make out the lower half of a horribly scarred face underneath the black hood. An inhuman voice, unlike anything he had ever heard before, came from the standing figure. However, he couldn't really make out what was being said. It seemed garbled and muffled. The exception was one word, which he could hear very clearly. That word was "Sith." Then, without warning, the source of the voice faced him and two red glowing eyes could be seen from under his hood. "Kill the Jedi!" The kneeling figure stood up and began to approach him, but he couldn't move. All he could do was stand and face his impending doom. He expected to see the typical red blade of a sith lightsaber, but instead, a blue blade of light was extended before him. The dark figure raised his blade into the air, rotating it downward while doing so, and brought it down in a stabbing motion into his victim's chest with a- "Dallon!" He awoke with a start, covered in a cold sweat, to see his childhood friend and current shipmate Namakwo in front of him saying, "Sorry to startle you Dallon. I couldn't get you awake and you told me to let you know when we're about to land."

Dallon Rikar, was a human Jedi Padawan under the tutelage of Jedi Master Cordora. He was born on Alderaan, in its capital city of Aldera. No matter what adversities life threw his way, Dallon always seemed to be able to pick himself up and keep on going. From very early on, this unique quality was constantly and sometimes mercilessly tested. When Dallon was only four, his mother died of a horrible form of cancer, leaving his father to raise Dallon and his two older siblings by himself. Three years later, Dallon was at home with his family, when he got a strange feeling. He had a strong and urgent desire to go outside. He did not know why, but he did it anyway. Dallon never saw his family alive again.

Once there, the feeling went away and he started a game outside. The game took the child around the local neighborhood, wandering around chasing the voices of imaginary friends. When he was almost home, Dallon saw lots of vehicles with flashing lights and people in uniform near his house. Although he did not know it at the time, they were local law enforcement authorities. As Dallon approached, one of the older looking officers saw him and a solemn look took over his face. He knelt down to the kid's level, "Are you Dallon Rikar?" Innocently, Dallon replied, "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers. My Dad says so." The officer sighed, "I'm so sorry son. But…" The officer was familiar with the earlier fate of the boy's mother through official records, so he knew the kid had experienced death before. But he still didn't know how to tell a seven year old child that his family had been murdered. "A bad man came and hurt your family. They're not here anymore." "Where did they go?" "They're gone, son. I'm sorry." As the reality and gravity of the situation began to set in for him, Dallon fell silent. "Don't worry kid. We're going to take you down to headquarters right now. Everything is going to be okay…" He wasn't listening to the officer. The same feeling that had urged him to go outside before was back again. This time it was telling him to run. So he did.

Dallon disappeared into the wilderness and was forced to live on his own for six months. Well, 'forced' isn't exactly the right word. 'Guided' is more accurate. Eventually, he felt it was time to leave the wilderness and upon doing so, Dallon was soon found wandering the outskirts of Aldera by local law enforcement. He was taken to the closest station until they could find family to take custody of him. After a quick DNA test, it was discovered that Dallon was the child that had disappeared from Aldera six months ago after his family was killed. According to their database, Dallon had an older cousin, Celeste, who lived on Alderaan in the island city of Belleau-a-Lir. She was about twenty years older than her younger cousin and was married. The couple had moved to Alderaan right after his family was killed with the intention of taking care of the child. Unfortunately, he disappeared before that could happen. As soon as this discovery of family connection was made, Celeste and her husband were informed of Dallon's reappearance. She hadn't seen the child since his mother's funeral. As was their original intention, they decided to adopt Dallon, to which he readily agreed. It was strange, although he was too young to remember them, he quickly developed a strong bond with them. Perhaps it was the family connection between them or it could be that the time he had spent alone deepened his need for human contact and affection. But despite the love he had for his new family, it was two months before he was ready to talk about his past. Although they were already aware of some of what had happened, his adopted parents didn't force anything from him. They knew Dallon would talk when he was ready. In the meantime, they loved him as much as they could. When he was ready, Dallon described the incident as best as he could remember and said that while he was on his own for that half of a year, he survived because of a special bond that he claimed to have with the world around him. The boy said that even though he was on his own, he never really felt alone. He even described having 'magical powers' in certain situations when he was in danger, but he had trouble controlling them. It wasn't every day that a child survives in the wild for that long on his own. Being inhabitants of a core world, Alderaanians were very familiar with the Guardians of the Republic, the Jedi. The monastic warriors had their main temple on Coruscant, the capital of the Republic. Coruscant was practically right next to Alderaan, galactically speaking. His new parents began to consider the possibility that Dallon was force sensitive. However, Dallon was a bit older than many of the children were at the start of their training, most force sensitive children were discovered shortly after birth and were placed in a clan in the temple at age 3. Dallon was 7 going on 8 at this point, but his new parents decided that it was still worth a try. Almost as if answering them, within a day of their decision, they were contacted by a Jedi recruiter from Coruscant. Apparently she had sensed Dallon from the Temple and had been searching for him for the past eight months. Due to her many responsibilities, she informed his family that it would be several weeks before she was able to make it to Alderaan.

In the meantime, Dallon started asking questions of Celeste and her husband. He never really learned exactly what had happened to his family other than 'a bad man hurt them.' The boy wanted to know if they knew more. Unfortunately for Dallon, they didn't know anything other than what was in the news and police reports. Additionally, they felt that at the time, the child was too young to understand. However, they felt he had a right to know everything he could. "We promise that we will tell you everything we know when the time is right. Be patient Dallon." Patience, not exactly an attribute of a seven year old child, was a tall order. But, he accepted his guardians' wisdom and waited.

The Jedi recruiter arrived at their home two weeks later and performed some initial tests on Dallon. He passed. Dallon was indeed force sensitive. The recruiter relayed the results back to Coruscant. The Jedi Council agreed and allowed Dallon to be admitted for training. Upon being taken into the Temple, he was placed into Bergruufta clan. As the training started, Dallon soon learned that the feelings that had guided him earlier on were the voice of the Force. When the younglings in his clan at the temple heard of his many unfortunate situations as a child and of his uncanny ability to get up and keep going, some noted the similarities to the legendary phoenix. Although he found the connection interesting, he didn't really think much of it at the time.

On his thirteenth birthday, just days before his Initiate trials, he received a holocall at the Temple from his adopted parents back on Alderaan. Technically, he wasn't supposed to have any contact from his family outside of the Temple, but he found some of the rules at the Temple way over the top. This was not to imply that Dallon was insubordinate or a troublemaker. Anyway, this call was too important to ignore. The time had come for them to tell him. "We don't know much Dallon, but we will tell you what we do know. Between the news and official police reports we learned that pirates from the Outer Rim were trying to establish an operations base for an illegal spice trade in the mountains near Aldera. Their plan was to make contact with the existing criminal element in the city. They did not realize that their contacts were actually undercover agents who were already aware of their operation and had been monitoring their activities for months. Apparently, something went wrong during their meeting and the pirates fled. Perhaps someone tipped off the pirates about the agents or perhaps one of the agents accidentally broke cover. We really do not know for sure. They temporarily took refuge in your family's house. Then they left again to avoid capture. Unfortunately, the criminals killed your family before they did, presumably because they wanted no witnesses to their crime. That's all we know son." "Thank you, I appreciate it." He reached down to terminate the call. But before he did and even though they were not his true biological parents, "Oh, Mom, Dad?" "Yes?" "I love you."

Dallon had been having nightmares like this for months now. They all involved the two dark and hooded figures. In each one, Dallon was frozen with fear and could not move, only face what was approaching him. He had wanted to talk to Master Yoda about these dreams, given his unmatched experience in the Force, but the living Jedi legend had been almost completely unavailable recently due to his involvement in the Clone Wars.

As it happened, Dallon was now 21: the Clone Wars had been going on for about three years and he was within weeks of taking the Jedi Trials and becoming a Jedi Knight. For the past eight years, Dallon had been out in the great field known as the galaxy, traveling and training with Master Cordora, to whom he was apprenticed. But for the three most recent of those eight years, the War had many of the Jedi Masters and Knights spread across the galaxy, guiding the clones in battle. This included the Alderaanian Jedi and his Master. From the previous five years of his apprenticeship before the Clone Wars had started, Dallon did have some combat experience from supporting his Master in her role as a Jedi Peacekeeper. As a result, Master Cordora felt her apprentice was sufficiently prepared to continue his apprenticeship at her side in the Clone Wars when they started. In the beginning, she trained him mostly in the defensive Soresu form. However, as Dallon became more skilled, confident and experienced in his lightsaber technique, he began to show proficiency for the Shien and Djem So forms as well. The reason that they were returning to Coruscant was so that Dallon could begin final preparation for his Jedi Trials. Master Cordora believed that he was ready.

The person standing in front of him was Namakwo Ghec, a Mon Calamarian and his current shipmate. He was from a small floating village near the Mester Reef, in the southern hemisphere of the planet. Floating cities and villages were quite common on Mon Calamari, since the entire surface of the planet was one giant ocean. It was quite the opposite of the planet-wide city that covered Coruscant's surface. Namakwo was about the same age as Dallon and was also returning to Coruscant so that he could take his Jedi Trials. Namakwo was Dallon's first friend when he came to the temple in addition to also being in the same clan as he was. So the bond between them had been very strong. The Mon Calamarian seemed to have an uncanny knack for working with technology. Every once and a while, he would give Dallon a lesson in gadget building or in repairing broken tech. Dallon enjoyed spending time with Namakwo and considered him his best friend, almost like a brother, despite the Jedi teaching of non-attachment. Although Dallon generally followed the philosophy, his friendship with Namakwo was an exception and he did his best to not let it get in the way of his training. Besides, while at the Temple in his childhood clan, he was encouraged to view the other children in his clan like his family. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch to befriend one of them. Unlike most of the children at the Jedi Temple, he did have a life beforehand, however short it was. As a child entering a strange unknown such as the Jedi Temple feeling alone and like the new person, especially after those six months alone in the wilderness, it was comforting to be befriended by someone who made him feel welcome and at home.

"No, it's okay Namakwo. It wasn't you. I've been having really intense nightmares for a while now. Anyway, you were saying something about us landing?"

"Um, right, the captain has just informed us that we have dropped out of hyperspace and are on final approach to Coruscant. We should be landing in about 20 minutes."

"Excellent. Thanks old friend."

Although they had been childhood friends during their time at the temple, once their individual apprenticeships began they went their separate ways. Such is the life of a Jedi and why having any sort of friendship or relationship is difficult. Dallon's training at his master's side on the battlefield took him down the path of a guardian. Namakwo's innate technical and electronic skills made him ideal for the sentinel class. So for the past eight years they both received practical experience in the fields that the Force seemed to be guiding them into under the direction of two respected Jedi Masters. As fate would have it, they were both now on the same public transport ship on their way back to Coruscant.

"So, Dallon, how have things been on the frontlines?"

"Enlightening, to say the least. I've been able to really expand and enhance my Soresu skills and partially developed some Shien and Djem So abilities. But I still have a ways to go in those areas. But the best part isn't developing my saber skills, it's the people we help along the way. I've learned so much."

"That's good. I'm glad to see that you have been doing well. Anyway, while you've been out saving the galaxy, I've been busy keeping things running behind the scenes. There are a lot of vehicles and equipment that get damaged and trapped in Separatist territory. Master Mons and I are part of a Jedi infiltration and salvage crew. We have several security experts who get us in undetected. Then our slicers and tech experts get to work making any repairs necessary. I've been training to be part of this second group. If you've ever been in a combat vehicle recovered from enemy territory, chances are that I helped fix it. I don't have Master Mons' sense of mechu-deru, but I hope to develop my own one day."

"I have no doubt that you will, my friend. I remember when we were back at the temple and you would show me all those little gadgets that you had built or fixed. I'll be honest. I know that you tried to explain it to me, but half the time I didn't have a clue as to what you were talking about. But to you, it always seemed so effortless and matter of fact."

They continued to catch up for a few minutes, their shuttle descending into the old but familiar setting of Coruscant. Eventually, the metallic skyline of the capital ecumenopolis began to stand out clearly against the soft orange glow of sunset.


	2. Chapter 2

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 2

Seeing the temple again began to bring back memories of years past. One in particular involved a young boy from Tatooine, named Jarnen. When they were younger and still at the Temple, most of their training took place inside the walls of their classrooms. However, occasionally their instructors would take them outside of the relative safety of the Temple for real life lessons. They were always supervised of course, but it gave the younglings a better sense of how they could practically apply what they learned from their teachers. That is how they met Jarnen.

Jarnen, once a native of Tatooine, now lived on Coruscant in a neighborhood near the Jedi Temple. He came to the Republic Capital with his family at the age of eight to escape enslavement on Tatooine. A local crimelord, Groga the Hutt, forcibly enslaved Jarnen's entire village as payment for a debt that one of the villagers owed him. The boy and his family managed to escape to Coruscant, but Groga followed them. Groga found his family and took them back to Tatooine. Jarnen, who was not there then, was able to evade capture. He has been living on his own ever since.

Dallon and Namakwo first met him while on one of their field trips near the Jedi Temple. With them were several other younglings and their Jedi instructor. At the time, Jarnen was a small time thief, and had been for two or three years at that point, pick pocketing from anyone he could find. While this was not how he wanted to spend his life, the money that he stole went to a local spice dealer who gave Jarnen a place to stay in exchange for his services as a thief. Years ago on that day, Jarnen's random victim happened to be their Jedi instructor. What Jarnen did not know was that this person was in no way ordinary, but a Jedi Master. She was immediately able to sense his deception and caught him red handed.

After realizing his imminent capture and that he could not escape, Jarnen quickly returned what he stole, her hand held communication device and apologized. "I'm sorry, please don't hurt me," he said while flinching, expecting a blow to the face. "I'm not going to hurt you, young one. But I couldn't allow you to continue down that course of action. Do you need help, my friend?" Her response was completely cool and collected, a complete contrast to Jarnen's nervous and jittery composure. His face revealed that he wanted to say something but he was so uneasy and upset that he could not say a word. The students watched in amazement at the Jedi's next deed. As she spoke, she reached out through the Force and began to calm his troubled mind. "Let's take it easy and start slow, what's your name?" As she asked this, she knelt down to face him, looking right into his blue eyes. "I'm…J..Ja..Jarnen." "Okay Jarnen, well I'm Master Talia Molan but you can just call me Tali. Okay? Now, could you please tell me why you tried to pickpocket me? Where's your family, little one?"

Slowly Jarnen explained his situation- his early life on Tatooine, his escape to Coruscant and how he was stealing for a spice dealer in exchange for a place to stay. The long time criminal exploited the poor young boy from Tatooine into becoming his thief and because of Jarnen's naiveté or perhaps because he had nowhere else to go or maybe even both, he followed. By the time he became older and more aware of what he was doing, Jarnen felt that he was too far entrenched in his current situation to try and escape. So he stayed. "Please," Jarnen begged "please help me. I don't want to do this anymore but I don't know what to do. If I leave they'll find me and I have nowhere else to go."

That was the last time that the two of them saw Jarnen in person. However, a few years after that incident, while they were still at the temple, they did a little research into the Jedi Archives. There they found records of a joint operation between the Jedi Order and local law enforcement on Coruscant. It turned out that Master Molan had decided to help the young boy from Tatooine after all. Jarnen gave up all the information that he knew about the spice dealer and his operation. In return, they would not press any charges on him. In addition, he would be placed in a witness protection program. It was revealed that the spice dealer was named Meexo Sluz. Apparently, they had stumbled onto quite a character. Not only was Sluz wanted for spice dealing, but according to Jarnen, the criminal had committed several murders in the past few years. His known territory was a district near the Jedi Temple. A small task force was created to infiltrate his headquarters. It was comprised of a single Jedi from the Temple Security force who was supported by four local law enforcement officers. The mission went off without a hitch. Sluz was convicted, with Jarnen's help, and sentenced to life in prison. Jarnen was adopted by a willing family and they were placed in an undisclosed location. Only Jedi Knights and Masters with the proper clearance had access to that piece of information. That was the last that they had heard of Jarnen.

"What do you think ever happened to Jarnen after that?"

"I don't know, but I hope that he's okay, wherever he is."

The shuttle that they were riding in finally came to a stop on a landing pad immediately outside the temple grounds. The four Jedi stepped out of the shuttle and onto the pad. The two elder Jedi faced their apprentices. "We must each go and meet with the Council separately to discuss your upcoming trials. When the time is right, you will each meet with the Council as well. For the time being, we suggest that you each prepare as best as you can." Each apprentice stood before his respective Master and bowed. "Yes, Master." With that, the two padawans were left alone.

They slowly approached the temple and stared up at its four corner towers with the tranquility spire in the middle above them all. It was awe-inspiring. Although they had both seen it many times before, it had been many years and so they took a few minutes to just stare at it. After many long years, they felt at home, even if it was just temporary. They continued onward and reached the bottom of the stairs. As they began to ascend, Dallon and Namakwo both felt it at the same time, an immediate sense of urgency rushed to the front of their minds through the Force. They were being targeted from afar, from behind them. In that same second, their lightsabers were out and activated. Namakwo quickly maneuvered his saber up over his head and behind his back so that it was parallel to the long axis of his body and was pointing to the ground. It was just in time to block a sniper rifle shot that would have hit his back. The next shot came for Dallon. He quickly spun around 180 degrees and lifted his saber up so the blade was horizontally placed in front of his face and able to deflect the shot meant for his head. It was then that they noticed that these shots were not accompanied by the usual bright flashes of plasma based weaponry. Nor did they possess the high pitched whine associated with them either. Instead there was nothing but an almost silent whisp with each shot. Both Jedi blocked several more hits before determining their origin. It was a single shooter on a distant rooftop to the northwest of the temple. The culprit quickly took off using a jetpack and was soon out of their sight completely.

"Were you able to make out who it was?" asked the Mon Calamarian.

"No, but that sound. It had to have been a solid projectile."

"A slugthrower?"

"Exactly."

Master Cordora came through the doorway and down the stairs to meet them. "You two need to come with me now. There is something that you both need to see."

"We were just attacked by a sniper," Dallon replied.

"I know. It will all make sense when you come with me," Master Cordora said with concern.

They followed her into the temple and inside a conference room with a holo-projector in the center. The door closed behind them and they came face to face with Master Mons, three members of the temple guard and the head of security for the temple.

"Greetings, Master. What's going on? Someone just tried to kill us outside." Namakwo asked.

The Jedi Master responded, "The Temple received this holo-message from an anonymous source about half an hour ago. We were informed of it as soon as we arrived. After watching it, we decided that it was necessary to show it to both of you."

"Why?" Dallon asked.

"Because it mentions you both by name," Master Cordora replied and then started the message.

The image was from the neck up and showed a helmeted figure. At least, they thought it was a helmet. The only way to describe it was organic. There was a series of overlapping, carapace like plates on top that came to a point in what would normally be the forehead area. Below that were four yellow glowing eyes. The whole thing was almost insect-like in appearance. It was very unnerving. The voice was grainy and distorted in order to hide the speaker's identity.

"Hello, Jedi. For the time being, you may call me…Janus. All that you need to know about me at the moment is that I am indeed your enemy. Now, we're going to play a little game. Assuming, they're not dead, Dallon and Namakwo should be here. Yes, I know who you are. Don't act so surprised. So, how did you like my gift? Well, I guess from your point of view, it really wasn't much of a gift. But, what can you do? Anyway, consider that the warm up round. Congratulations, you passed. But don't worry, there's more where that came from. Now, where was I? Oh yes! Chaos. A virus has been introduced into your computer network. Don't worry, it's dormant for now. However, upon activation, it is programmed to enter your Jedi Archives and erase everything. That's quite a lot of information. Who knows the consequences of losing all of that. Now, this part is for you two, Dallon and Namakwo, so make sure to pay close attention. Consider the virus incentive to play the game. If you win, I'll deactivate it. If you lose, I let it loose. And just in case the virus isn't incentive enough and because I am well aware of the abilities of your Jedi Sentinels, there's more. A few interesting things were discovered in your data network. You'd be surprised what kind of files you all keep laying around. I didn't even know that the Jedi had covert operatives until I came across this list of active agents here. It would be a shame if the Separatists happened to get this list. Or what about this? It appears to be a recruitment list comprised of families across the galaxy with potentially Force sensitive children. I bet that the Sith would be very interested in knowing where the Order's future Jedi can be found. Get the picture? There will be three rounds and each one will take place in a certain system. Presently, I could tell you all three planets right away, but knowing the Jedi Council, they would probably have the Republic immediately send those nasty clones to each one and ruin all the fun. Therefore, I will give you each planet's name and details of the corresponding game round one at a time. You will have to complete each round to progress to the next. And remember, this game is for the two Padawans only. Everyone else please refrain from interruption. Oh, did I mention? This is going to be a timed game. We can't make it too easy; or else there's no challenge. Failure to complete the tests in time will constitute your forfeiture of this game and that means the virus and data files go free. You have thirty standard galactic days from the first viewing of this message to complete the game. I will contact you within a day with information regarding round one. Finally, you two may be wondering why you were chosen. All in due time my friends, all in due time. Good luck, you're going to need it. And remember, I'll be watching you." The message ended and the image faded.

"That sadistic-!", started Dallon.

Sensing his anger, Master Cordora cut in, "Dallon, calm yourself. You know where anger leads."

"I'm sorry Master. It's just…in all our travels I've seen death before, but this is different. Playing with so many lives like it's a game. It's sickening."

Namakwo put his hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry my friend. We'll stop him. Isn't that right everybody?"

"Well, I wish I had more encouraging news. Our preliminary scans of the network haven't detected anything yet. More detailed scans will take time. We've begun scrubbing the Archive's files so that we can make copies on an isolated set of servers. But you know firsthand how big the Archives are. A data transfer like that is a lengthy process. The missions that our covert agents are on are too important to risk by breaking their cover. As for the families on that list, we simply do not have enough Jedi to protect them all, especially with the Clone Wars going on. Until we know more, I'm afraid that we're going to need you to play along with Janus's 'game' for now. But of course we will inform the Council of the situation," said Master Cordora.

"I would consider it an honor to complete these missions if it meant serving the Order and helping the people of the Republic" said Dallon, turning to face Master Cordora.

Namakwo followed suit, "As would I, Master."

"Your eagerness to serve the common good of all is commendable, both of you. And indeed this is why we returned to Coruscant to begin with. To see if you have what it takes in the Trials to become servants to the Order and the Republic as Jedi Knights," was Master Mons' reply.

"Thank you, Master." The Mon Calamarian bowed.

"Thank you, Master." Dallon followed with a bow of his own.

"Unfortunately," Cordora started, "there isn't much that we can do in terms of trooper support with these missions. I'll check with the Council, but I think that they'll agree. Janus has put us in a difficult situation. If he really is watching us, then sending you direct assistance on these missions may indeed result in his follow through of these threats. There's also no telling what he might do to those other planets. We cannot risk that happening. However, we will do everything we can to prepare you for these missions and if we can find a way to indirectly help you, we will. The briefings will take place in a secure and shielded room that will be isolated from the main temple communications network. Janus should not be able to monitor us inside this chamber. We know this involves a risk but we believe it is minimal compared to receiving open help in the field. Secondly, we can't in good conscience send you on these missions completely unprepared. Temporary accommodations are being prepared for you now. I suggest you both go there and prepare as best you can. We will contact you when we receive the next message from Janus."

"Yes Master," they both replied.


	3. Chapter 3

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 3

The conversation on the way to their quarters was an odd mix of both curiosity and concern.

"How does this Janus character know so much about us?"

Namakwo answered with, "Who knows what kind of measures that he's taken to gather the information he has? Not to mention, what else does he know that we don't know that he knows? But I think that the most important question here is how he managed to hack into the Temple's data network."

"What if he's bluffing?"

"Can we really afford to take that chance?"

"No, you're right, Namakwo. I just don't like him playing us like this."

"Well hold on. The Temple's network security is among the best in the galaxy. I find it unlikely that he got in without help."

"You thinking an inside job?"

"If it is, then that person could be walking among us right now. Although it would probably be someone relatively new; unless this has been in the works for longer than we thought." Namakwo answered.

"Now, I don't want to seem self-centered here but…"

"Why us?"

"Exactly. I mean, of all the Jedi out there, why did he choose us? We're certainly not the most skilled or gifted. We're not even full knights yet. This has to be more than just some random challenge. There must be something else that we do not see."

"I don't know anything about why he chose us specifically, but I think his choice of the Jedi in general is quite telling. Of all the groups of people that he could have chosen for his 'tests', he picked two Jedi. If he wanted someone for some personal challenge, there are other bounty hunters, para-military groups or maybe even the Sith. All these groups are known for their ruthless efficiency. They would provide more of his style of challenge. But that's not what happened. It was the Jedi who were chosen. Our code of conduct and philosophy are well known throughout the galaxy. There are certain things we simply do not do. Janus doesn't want a personal challenge, he wants a show with the whole galaxy watching us as its stars. Perhaps he thinks that our relative inexperience means we are more likely to fail. And not only does he want us to fail, he wants everyone to know it and see it happen. He's hoping that the galaxy doesn't see us as two Jedi padawans but simply as two Jedi; that they won't make the distinction. I don't think this is a test, I think this is a personal vendetta for him. What I'm not sure of is why." was Namakwo's response.

"So, then what do you think about the sniper who attacked us outside? I mean, it was probably Janus, but I'm more interested in what he attacked us with. You were right, that was definitely some sort of slugthrower. But I don't see how it could be. Slugthrowers don't have that kind of range, not even a sniper rifle. That was at least twice the range of any slugthrower sniper rifle that I've ever heard of. Namakwo, could we be dealing with some sort of new and unheard of technology?"

Namakwo pondered, "I've never heard of anything like that before and I'm the tech person here. That is weird. Perhaps by studying some of the temple's security footage we can gain better insight into this."

"We'll have to check on that later and it would probably be a good idea to ask around. We have quite an extensive knowledge base here at the temple, the library notwithstanding." said Dallon.

With that, they arrived at their room.

As Dallon sat down on a bed he took a look at the lightsaber which had just recently saved his life. The top half of the hilt was polished steel with a slanted edge near the emitter while the bottom half was black and non-metallic with the exception of the pommel which was also metallic. Several plates of anodized metal with curved edges covered the surface and were attached with small bolts. There were also a few knobs on the hilt that were used for adjusting things like blade intensity and length. The activator switch was adorned with a blue cover around it. Finally, there was a small etching of a phoenix bird on the metal surface of the hilt. After having some time to think about the bird and the legend it represents, he decided he liked the concept and personalized his saber with it.

He turned it on and a single blue blade emerged from the top. Once the blade stabilized, the familiar hum of an activated lightsaber filled his ears. As he moved the blade around, the tone of the hum changed to match his movement. The plasma that the blade was composed of was hot enough to cut through just about anything; he knew that from personal experience. Yet it did not emit any radiant heat into the surrounding air. With another press of the switch the blade was gone and the hilt was clipped back onto his belt.

Dallon decided that he would spend some time in meditation to prepare his mind for whatever was next. He sat down on the floor and crossed his legs in a meditative stance. As he began to clear his mind and let the Force guide his thoughts, his surroundings began to fade away. He saw Janus, but full body, not just from the neck up. The same helmet as before was still there and he appeared to also be wearing some combat armor. This suit had the same organic and insect like appearance as the helmet did. At first Dallon sensed deception upon seeing Janus, but as he continued to focus, something else began to appear in the background. No, it wasn't in the background, it was coming through Janus, like a signal being relayed from somewhere else. It was extremely distant, so much so that he had trouble maintaining focus on it. The Jedi also got the feeling that whatever he was sensing was ancient, very ancient. But what came through the most to Dallon was this aura of unadulterated and absolute evil. As he focused, he began to notice something he couldn't quite describe; like a voice in the back of his mind. It felt like it was starting to slowly scratch its way into his consciousness. Sensing the danger, he left his meditative state and returned to his present location. When he did, whatever it was that was trying to get into his mind disappeared.

The Mon Calamarian, who had been performing diagnostics and maintenance on his equipment, turned to Dallon, "See anything?"

"There's something out there, something very big and very evil. Janus isn't the one in charge. There's someone…or something…else calling the shots."

"Something? What exactly did you see?"

"I'm not sure, but it was old and when I say old I mean ancient. Older than anything I've ever heard of. Not only that, but I think it was aware of my presence."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that when I tried to focus on it something came from the other end and tried to get into my mind."

"What?! How?!"

"I don't know, but I could feel it there in the back of my mind, trying to scratch its way in."

"Is it still there?"

"No. As soon as I stopped meditating it vanished."

"Incredible! It must have used the connection that you established with the Force to reach you."

After a few more hours, they received word that Janus' next message had arrived. With that, they returned to the same conference room from earlier and were ready to view the new message that Janus had sent. Master Cordora was there but not Master Mons. Namakwo asked, "Where is Master Mons?" Cordora answered, "Master Mons has joined the effort to help back up the Archives. His skills are invaluable in a situation like this." With that, their focus returned to the new message. As before, Janus's holographic image was displayed.

"Welcome back. Let's start off with a bang, shall we? We are going to begin with the nearby planet of Metellos. This particular planet is one that you have probably not heard of before. But if you fail this test, it really won't matter who's heard of it. Let me explain why. As we speak, an asteroid measuring twenty kilometers in diameter is hurdling towards Metellos. At its current rate of speed, it will impact Metellos' surface in approximately three days from your receipt of this message. As you may have noticed, the impact will have enough force to completely decimate the planet's population. But that's not even the best part. No, no, this is only the beginning my friends. You see, I'm sure you're probably wondering why you cannot simply destroy the asteroid now. Well, in all honesty, you could. But everything has a price. Inside the core of this asteroid is a very large amount of a very unique material that you have probably not heard of yet. I'm not going to get into the details, but with this material, under the right conditions, we can force the asteroid into a singularity. Any attempt to destroy the asteroid will set off the reaction to create the black hole. It would have roughly the same mass as your average stellar black hole and its gravitational field would be strong enough to consume anything in the system. Although the asteroid has not reached Metellos yet, it is close enough for the singularity to have this kind of effect. So, you have a choice. A quick fiery death for many of the inhabitants as they are incinerated by the explosion and resultant shockwave or a slow painful death as they are consumed by the singularity. One more thing, and I hope the other people in the room are listening, this test is for Dallon and Namakwo only. If I detect any Republic military presence or any Jedi besides these two on this mission, then I will activate the singularity. And I believe that I just told you what will happen if I do that. I mean, we wouldn't want any cheating going on. Choose well."

With that, the hologram vanished from sight. Master Cordora turned to Namakwo and Dallon, "There are 900 billion people on that planet."

Dallon responded, "Then we need to do something now."


	4. Chapter 4

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Author's Note:

Thanks to the Stargate SG1 episode "Fail Safe" for inspiration in this chapter. Stargate SG1 is owned by MGM

Chapter 4

They moved immediately to a secure conference room in another section of the temple. They reached the door and then stopped right outside. The door did not open. On the door were three full circles that stood out from the surface of the door. The three circles were all evenly centered around a single point on the door's surface. The two young Jedi recognized them well. They were Force input locks. Only a Force sensitive could open them. One had to correctly align the internal components in order to disarm the locks. They would reset after the door closed behind them. Master Cordora spoke, "I'm sure you both recognize what these are. Due to the sensitive nature of this situation, we have chosen a room secured with these locks. This particular one requires three separate individuals to work. If the two of you could please assist me with this, we can proceed."

As they unlocked the door the three circles gave off a light blue aura. The door opened from the middle and the two halves slid off to each side. Inside the room was a round table surrounded by six seats. In the center of the table was a holoprojector. Along the wall were several large holographic display monitors. After they entered the room, the door closed behind them. The Jedi Master spoke up, "There are going to be a few others joining us remotely for this meeting. Please direct your attention to the monitors on the far wall." Two of the monitors began to display live feeds of two different individuals. One was a Sullustian and the other was a Twi'lek. Master Cordora introduced them one at a time, the Sullustian first. "Namakwo, Dallon, this is Captain Jien Sorub of the Republic research vessel Piercing Eye. He has served the Republic for 26 years. At the moment, his ship is part of Coruscant's planetary defense fleet." The captain saluted the three Jedi. She then continued and turned to face the Twi'lek woman on the other screen, "This is Doctor Sienn'aris. She is one of the Temple's finest science officers. She specializes in mechanical engineering, quantum mechanics and astronomy. She is currently serving aboard our praxeum ship, the Chu'unthor." This was the second Jedi praxeum ship of that name, the first having crash landed on Dathomir about two centuries before. "I offer you warm greetings," she said with a nod which the Jedi returned. The Jedi Master explained, "We believe that their resources and expertise will be invaluable in gathering information and also in planning how to proceed from this point. They will be joining us for this meeting using secure remote connections."

The three in the room sat down around the table. Master Cordora began, "First of all, Doctor, Captain, thank you for diverting your attention from your duties on such short notice and with so little information. I realize that we haven't really told you what's going on yet, so let me fill you in on the situation. Less than half an hour ago we received this message from an individual calling himself Janus. It was a follow up to an introductory message that we received from the same individual a few hours before." With that, she pressed a button on her wrist pad and the holoprojector in the middle of the room played the message from earlier. Dallon tightened his fists as he watched again.

The Jedi Master spoke first, "Now that you know what we're up against, let me tell you what we need. Captain Jorub, I have been informed that the Piercing Eye has long range scanning capabilities."

"Yes, ma'am. Our long range scanners are state of the art. Would you like us to find the asteroid?"

"Yes, please, we need to know exactly where it is, where it's going and its composition."

"Acknowledged, Master Jedi. I'll need to pull out of orbit to reach an optimal scanning position. We should be able to reach Metellos from here. It's going to take a few minutes. Please excuse us."

"Thank you Captain. Please keep us updated."

The Sullustian pressed a button on his end which muted his feed. With that he turned around and began pointing and giving orders to his subordinates.

"In the meantime, Doctor, is there anything that you can tell us about this material that is supposedly inside the asteroid?"

"At the moment I really can't say anything. There is no known substance in our records with those properties. There are three types of black holes that we know of: supermassive, stellar and miniature. Supermassive probably reside at the center of most galaxies and are generally billions of times more massive than the average star. They are believed to help hold the stars in a galaxy in their formation. Miniature black holes are for the most part theoretical and would have a mass equal to a fraction of that of an average star. Now, stellar black holes are the ones that you have more than likely heard of most often. As you may know, they form when a massive star reaches the end of its lifespan. During its life, the outward forces produced by the nuclear fusion at its core are equally balanced by the inward force of its gravity. But at the end of its life, when the core runs out of hydrogen for nuclear fusion, gravity takes over. The outer layers are expelled outward and then the star's core literally collapses under its own mass. The remaining mass of the core is condensed into a single point with almost zero volume and almost infinite density. This point is what is called a singularity. Its gravitational field is so strong that once something passes the event horizon, it cannot escape, even if it's light. My point is that these are all natural processes. There is no substance that I know of that can induce this formation artificially."

Dallon made a suggestion, "Doctor Sienn'aris, in my travels across the galaxy I have seen many different things, some of them quite unique and which I have seen nowhere else. Now, there is a large portion of the galaxy that remains unexplored, the Unknown Regions. Is it possible that such a substance could be unique to someplace in these regions and has been transported here? Or perhaps it could even be extragalactic?"

The Twi'lek pondered for a moment and then answered, "That is a possibility. In fact, if such a substance did exist somewhere in these regions, that might explain why plotting hyperspace routes into the area is so difficult if not impossible. But, even if they could find a way to artificially collapse the mass of the asteroid, it wouldn't be anywhere near enough mass to create a singularity. Only larger sized stars have enough mass for that to occur. However, unless I were to get an actual physical sample of the substance to study, I really couldn't say for sure."

Captain Sorub then came back into the discussion, "Excuse me, we've found the asteroid. We're sending our real time scans of it to your holoprojector now. We should discuss the results." A holographic representation of the object appeared above the center of the table and began to slowly rotate. "As you can see, it has a somewhat oblong shape. Our data puts the long axis at 19.76 kilometers and the short axis somewhat less at 15.83 kilometers. I believe that Janus' estimate of its size was fairly accurate. However, its current trajectory is somewhat confusing." As he said this, the holo image zoomed out to include a representation of Metellos. The asteroid's estimated trajectory was plotted using a dotted line through space. Except it did not intercept the planet. "As you can see, its path doesn't put it on a collision course with Metellos. It brings it nearby, but not close enough to be caught in the planet's gravitational field."

The Mon Calamarian Padawan asked, "What's going on? Did Janus lie to us?"

The Captain continued, "That's what I thought at first. Until we performed more detailed scans. That's when we discovered this." The holo-image zoomed back in on the asteroid so that you could see the surface in striking detail. "Anchored into the surface of the asteroid itself are sublight starcraft engines. The size and model that one would find on capital class ships."

Master Cordora chimed in, "He's going to change the asteroid's trajectory using those engines! Of course! Set the asteroid on a course that takes it nearby the planet to avoid initial panic and then change the course at the last minute when it's too late to do anything about it. He must have known that people on Metellos would see it coming and so he did this so that they would not interfere."

The captain answered, "Probably. However, there is one rather large oddity that we noticed during the scan. We managed to scan the interior of the asteroid, specifically its core. It is a sphere about one kilometer in diameter. As Janus said, it is composed of a unique substance that is different from the rest of the asteroid, which is mostly composed of various heavy metals. Here is what's strange- we've seen this substance before. It's rare, but it's not unheard of. We have it on record as MEC-2183. But, the thing is, this compound is fairly inert. It doesn't have any properties that would suggest that it can do the things that Janus is talking about."

"I've heard of this compound before," added Sienn'aris. "It's mainly found in asteroid fields near neutron stars and pulsars, remnants of stars after a supernova. We believe that supernovas may be linked to the compound's formation. However, as the captain said, it's not really reactive to anything."

"But that's not all," Sorub returned to the conversation. "It was fairly obvious that this compound was not in the asteroid naturally. It was extremely pure with no contaminants, probably refined. The substance was also encased in some sort of metallic shell."

"How is it possible to get a structure like that inside the asteroid?" Dallon asked.

The captain answered, "Our scans suggest that the entire asteroid was cut in half using extreme heat, after which the core was hollowed out. The new core could have been placed in at that point. The same extreme heat which bisected the asteroid could have then been used to fuse it back together."

Even Master Cordora was shocked, "That's incredible!"

Sorub continued, "We also detected several modules anchored into the surface. As far as we can tell, they are control centers for the engines and other devices attached to the asteroid. Additionally, one of the modules appears to have a Class 1.0 hyperdrive system incorporated into it. After that, we discovered around a dozen devices spaced evenly on the surface of the asteroid. There are also a few that were placed in shafts drilled into the asteroid itself. After we scanned them, they began to emit some sort of energy field which is now encompassing the entirety of the asteroid. It's possible that the field may have activated in response to our scanning. I can't tell you much about this energy though, it is unlike anything I've seen before. We will continue to study it and update you as we learn more. I can tell you that it doesn't match any known radiation signatures that are believed to be lethal or dangerous to organic life."

"Thank you for your very detailed analysis of the object in question, Captain. Okay everybody, ideas?" was the Jedi Master's response.

Captain Sorub commented, "Unfortunately, the unique specifics of this situation eliminate the possibility of using any conventional methods. We cannot bring any sizable force into the area because of the risk of the singularity's activation. Evacuation is not an option simply because there are too many people on the planet and not enough time to do it in. Relocation to another area of the planet is plausible but not practical. The asteroid is simply so big that there is nowhere on the planet's surface that will not be affected by its impact. There are many floating cities far above the surface that might be safe from the explosion. But there is nowhere near enough room in these cities to house the entire planet's population. And honestly, not even these may be safe from an impact of this magnitude. And of course, if the singularity is activated, nowhere on the planet will be safe."

"I still don't like that energy field throughout the asteroid." Namakwo commented. "Even though it doesn't appear to pose any immediate threat, I'm still getting a strange feeling about it through the Force. I believe that there are more pieces to this puzzle that we have not yet found. We must tread carefully."

"I suspect," Sienn'aris pointed to the holographic image of the asteroid, "that we may be able to learn more about the field if we took readings from closer range. Although we wouldn't be able to risk bringing The Piercing Eye or any other Republic vessel into the Metellos system in order to get a closer scan. We would have to do something undercover."

"Okay, let's say that we are able to determine what the energy field is and what it does. The problem is that as long as Janus can activate the singularity remotely we can't do anything that would take a considerable amount of time. If we are going to do something, it would have to be done very quickly. That way, Janus cannot react until it's already done. But what could we possibly do that quickly that has any consequence?" Dallon put his head in his hands in frustration.

"Why don't we just send the asteroid back into hyperspace? The jump would be almost instantaneous. They wouldn't be able to react to it in time," suggested Doctor Sienn'aris. "And, according to the captain's scans, there is already a hyperspace motivator anchored to the surface."

"That could work, Doctor," said the Captain after a short pause.

"Indeed, and as you said Doctor, most of the equipment that we need should already be there." added the Mon Calamarian.

"We'd be using the enemy's resources against them. I like it." Dallon's face lit up now that they had an idea for a plan.

The Twi'lek quickly chuckled, "Well, it's still only an idea. I realize that there are quite a few logistical wrinkles that we would have to work out first. It's not standard procedure to send asteroids into hyperspace. But they already did it once to send it here, so I don't see why we can't use it again to send it back."

So, as a group, they began to talk out the details of the project.

"Okay, well I think that the first thing that we need to discuss is where we are going to send this thing. It's too dangerous to be sent to any populated system and with those engines it could continue to travel even if we sent it to an isolated location," was Master Cordora's concern.

"What about the Maw? If we can place it within the event horizon of one of the black holes there, it would be trapped. With the class 1.0 hyperdrive already present, I believe that the trip would take about 96 hours. Of course most hyperdrive engines have safety controls that prevent you from plotting a course into a black hole. We would have to override that," was the Doctor's solution.

The captain began to speak, "Well, speaking of hyperdrives, we are going to need a way to override this one and input a new course. Under ideal conditions, we could do it remotely, but we may not be able to do that. The only other option would be to do it manually at the location. It would be wise to prepare for that possibility. I would suggest that we create a program to do this and place it on a storage device. Someone can upload it to the computer once they are in range."

The doctor added, "That would require us to land on the surface of the asteroid. We'd need a shuttle for that. It would have to be a local one from the planet. A Republic shuttle would be a dead giveaway."

"So, how are we going to do all this without being detected?" was Dallon's question.

Namakwo responded, "We may be able to prevent the singularity from being activated remotely by using a communications jammer. However, since we don't know where Janus is sending the signal from I suggest that we jam it at its destination, the asteroid. To ensure the best effectiveness of the jammer, I would suspect that we would need to be no more than a few kilometers away from the asteroid. It would probably be best to just put the jammer on the shuttle and activate it when we get in range. We should be able to land and get the job done before they can effectively respond."

"But until we get it in range, we'll be vulnerable. We need some sort of distraction to allow the shuttle to get in range," pointed out Sorub.

"I may have an idea for that," answered Master Cordora. "Doctor Sienn'aris, you have access to academic databases from that ship. Could you check for advanced engineering universities that are located in the floating cities on Metellos?"

"Sure, but why do you ask?"

"Well, the asteroid has probably been detected by Metellos' population. However, they do not know about its impending change in course. It could theoretically present an academic research opportunity for a university with the right resources. If we could disguise the shuttle as a small research vessel registered to one of these institutions, it would not draw as much suspicion when it approaches the asteroid."

Dallon interrupted, "My apologies Master, but wouldn't Janus still be suspicious of any vessel approaching the asteroid, regardless of what it is and its supposed origin?"

"Not if Janus' attention is distracted by something else, Dallon. That is where you will come in. But I'll get to that later." The Jedi Master turned back to the Twi'lek, "So, Doctor, what about those universities?"

"Yes, there are several dozen universities that fit that description. Are there any in particular that you are looking for?" she said, looking at something offscreen.

"Are there any near the Moridebo district and Stratablock Seven?"

"Umm…," looking offscreen again, "Yes, here's one. It's located in Ektra, a floating city nearby."

"Okay, let's go with that one. Now, Doctor, we're going to need your help on this mission."

"Well, I suppose I can't spend all my time on this ship. What good is all this knowledge if I can't put it to good use? I'll help in whatever way that I can, Master Jedi."

"Thank you Doctor, I promise that you will be in good hands with these two." Turning to the two Padawans, "The both of you will arrive on Metellos separately in order to divide Janus' attention. Namakwo, you will travel to the floating city of Ektra. Ask to meet with the school's leadership. Once you are with them, you need to make sure that everything is secure before you say anything. We can't afford to have this leaking out right now. If everything seems okay, I want you to tell them the truth about what is going on. Tell them that you want a tour of their facilities. We may be able to use them to modify a shuttle with the right equipment for this mission and disguise it as a university research vessel. Namakwo, your technical experience is why I am choosing you for this part. Can you do this Namakwo?"

"Yes Master."

"Good. Doctor Sienn'aris, I am hoping that you could join Namakwo in Ektra and work together on this project. Your expertise will be very useful. If you can, see if there is anything additional that you can learn about the asteroid once you are there."

"Of course."

"Next, Dallon, this is where you come in. Your job is twofold. I need you to travel to the Moridebo district and run surveillance from there. There is a reason why I asked about this location. I have an old contact in the area, Doram. Nothing happens in that area without him knowing. I want you to find and coordinate with Doram to keep an eye out for Janus. The Moridebo district is a dangerous area, Dallon, you have to be very careful."

"With all due respect Master, the Moridebo district is just one small part of Metellos. What reason have we to believe that Janus is anywhere near Moridebo? I mean, Doram couldn't possibly have connections across all of Metellos."

"In all honesty Dallon, we don't know exactly where Janus is. But not to worry. This is the other part of your job. I need you to work with Doram to create a distraction to draw Janus' attention. We want it to seem like you are using the Moridebo district as a cover to build a device to stop the asteroid. Doram can use his contact network to spread this information around. The hope is that Janus will pick up on this. I'm sure Janus is going to be keeping an eye out for you. We can use this to our advantage by keeping Janus' attention on a situation that we control. It could also help keep the heat off of Namakwo and Doctor Sienn'aris. Once the shuttle is ready to launch, you should all rendezvous to be on it. Does everyone understand the plan?"

They all nodded in agreement.

The Twi'lek spoke up, "There is one thing that I would like to add. Once we land and reprogram the hyperdrive, we should take the opportunity to gather any more information that we can on the MEC-2183. One of the control modules may have more data about this substance or how they are using it. I want to learn as much about it as we can. "

Master Cordora stood up, "Agreed. Now, since everyone is settled on the plan, I am concluding this meeting. Thank you everyone for your help. May the Force be with us all."


	5. Chapter 5

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 5

The trip to Metellos was quick because of the planet's relative proximity to Coruscant. From space, you wouldn't be able to tell that Metellos was an overpopulated city planet like Coruscant. The dark blue and purple hues were covered over by swirling white clouds. A thin set of white rings encircled the supposedly doomed planet. The two Jedi made this journey in separate Eta-2-Actis-class light interceptors or Jedi interceptors as they were more widely known. Dropping out of hyperspace, they detached from their carrier rings and headed for the planet's surface.

As they moved through the atmosphere and closer to the surface, Ektra came into view. Ektra was one of the approximately one thousand cities that floated miles above the surface of Metellos. The platform on which the city rested was square in shape. The tallest of the skyscrapers were concentrated in the center of the platform. The large majority of these buildings were residential and administrative in nature. Radiating outward from the center was a mixture of smaller buildings, gardens and starports. Unfortunately for the large majority of the planet's population on the surface, these cities were reserved only for the wealthiest of Metellos. It was at this point that their courses diverged. Namakwo continued toward the floating city while Dallon began his descent towards the Moridebo district.

Namakwo activated his ship's communicator, "Ektra Approach, this is incoming Jedi interceptor with identification code E2A-7B50KNA. Requesting a vector and a berth."

He quickly got his response, "Incoming vessel, this is Ektra Approach. We are currently tracking your path on our defense grid. Your arrival here was not scheduled. Please state your business in Ektra."

"Ektra Approach, I am a Jedi representing the Galactic Republic. My business here is classified. If you have any concerns, feel free to take them up with the Council."

A pause, then, "Very well, you are clear to land at these coordinates. Do not deviate from this course. Be advised, we will be confirming your identity upon arrival. If it cannot be confirmed, your ship will be impounded and you will be arrested."

"Copy Ektra Approach, I am receiving the coordinates now. Thank you for your assistance."

He didn't like keeping the truth from them, but it was necessary. If he told them the real reason why he was there over a communications channel, word could spread quite quickly and induce a panic. Granted, he was still planning on telling the university administrators what was going on, but hopefully that would be more isolated.

After docking his vessel in his assigned location, the Mon Calamarian got out and began to examine his surroundings. He was quickly approached by two dock security officers.

"Sir, we are here to escort you to the security office until your identity can be confirmed. Also, until we can confirm your identity, we have to ask that you check your weapon with us."

Although they posed little threat to him, Namakwo was not about to give up his lightsaber. As soon as they were old enough to carry their first training saber, padawans were taught the importance of keeping a close eye on their saber so that they would not lose it. This was no different. He had no intention of hurting them of course, but the point was he was keeping it.

"You don't need to take my weapon. I mean you no harm," the Jedi said as he looked intently into their eyes and waved his hand in front of their faces.

Then the guards, somewhat trancelike, repeated, "We don't need to take his weapon. He means us no harm."

Worked like a charm, he thought, smiling a bit. He quickly made sure that his saber was hidden from view so that it would not attract their attention again. Honestly, it was a rookie mistake that he should have avoided to begin with. But, despite one's training, a person can still make mistakes. He then decided to change the subject.

"Officers, I'm in a bit of a hurry. Is this really necessary?"

"I'm sorry sir, but until we can…" The officer reached up and touched the com link in her ear. She was receiving a call. "Confirmed. Will do." Looking back at Namakwo, "We've just received word that your identity as a Jedi has been confirmed by the Jedi Temple. You are free to go about your business. Sorry for the trouble."

"Thank you officers." Namakwo continued on his way out of the docking bay.

Dropping through the atmosphere and to the surface, Dallon's view became exclusively brown and gray. Dallon looked up as his companion's ship fell out of view, "May the Force be with you, my friend." His descent towards Stratablock Seven and a local starport was fairly uneventful. The security wasn't as stringent as it was in the floating cities.

Within ten minutes the Jedi had landed in the docking bay, exited his craft and started walking around the area. After a quick scan by a security officer, he was alone. However, the security officer was not the only one to notice his arrival. A local human female in her early twenties named Shayera was watching from afar. One word came quietly from her mouth, "Jedi." Shayera was a skilled mechanic who was employed by the starport to fix damaged ships that were docked there. She was looking at the sublight engines of a corvette at the time. She made it a habit to unofficially keep an eye on the people who came in through this port. In a place like this, one had to keep their eyes open. It was her home, after all. Although Jedi rarely came to Moridebo, Shayera was still able to recognize him as such because of the saber hanging at his side. She had only seen a Jedi once before in her life. So, if a Jedi was coming to a derelict place like this, then it must be for a good reason. She had to know what it was. But she wouldn't get the chance right now.

Just as she was about to put her tool down and approach him, several others beat her to it. There were three of them, all Trandoshan. Although the population of Metellos was mostly human, there was a small mix of some alien species there as well. All three of them had an ACP repeater and a slavemaster stun carbine. The one in the middle, clearly the leader, spoke up first, "That's a nice lightsaber you got there. Must make you a Jedi. We don't really care for Republic types, or anyone who deals with those Wookies."

"Ah, I see, so you're separatists. Well, that does pose a problem", Dallon responded somewhat sarcastically.

"Don't mock me human! I was here for a bounty but I think we're going to take you instead. You'll be worth a lot more, dead or alive. Now hand over your saber", he shouted as they all raised their ACPs at the Jedi and took up positions around him.

Dallon chuckled, "That's not going to happen." He quickly drew his saber, which hissed as it came to life, and then assumed a defensive position with the hilt raised up near his head and the blade pointed down.

"You can't possibly take us all on at once."

"I've just spent the last three years fighting thousands of battle droids that had all sorts of heavy weapons. I think that I can handle a few dissident thugs with ACPs."

When he sensed their shots, he began to quickly circle his saber around his upper body, with the blade pointed down and slightly out. The shots were deflected to the ground near their feet. He had no intention of hurting them if he didn't have to do so. With a quick Force enhanced jump, Dallon was soon about twelve feet in the air and looking down on his assailants. He raised up his non saber hand, pushed himself away from the others and landed about ten feet from his original position. It was just in time for Dallon to slash his saber from left to right in front of him in order to deflect a few more shots. He slowly looked up with a sly smile on his face.

After a quick ride in an air taxi, Namakwo had arrived at his destination, The Ektra University of Applied Sciences. He eventually found the administrative building and went inside. Along the way, he had communicated with Dr. Sienn'aris. She would be meeting him there shortly. Upon entry, there was a protocol droid behind a desk, clearly a receptionist of sorts. Somewhat enthusiastically, it said, "Good afternoon sir and may I say welcome to The Ektra University of Applied Sciences. How may I direct you today?"

"Can you please tell me whoever is in charge here?"

"We currently have 25 departments active here on campus, not including our administrative and off campus offices. Could you please narrow your inquiry parameters?"

"My apologies, I need to speak to the university president and any senior staff."

"A meeting with President Anata requires an appointment. Would you like me to set you up with one? The next available opening in his schedule is in three months."

"Okay, look, here's the deal. I'm here representing the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic on a very important and very classified mission. I need to speak to President Anata right now."

"Very well sir. Ah, yes, here it is. A Jedi matching your description was just confirmed to have landed in docking bay 5. Jedi authority established. I will contact President Anata immediately; please wait here."

"Thank you."

After about ten minutes, a middle aged human male who looked like he had about a thousand things on his mind walked through a side door and into the lobby where Namakwo was patiently waiting.

Extending his hand in greeting, "I'm Salazar Anata, University president. Would you mind reminding me of your name?"

"Not a problem, my name is Namakwo Ghec. I am here representing the Jedi Council and the Galactic Republic."

"Right, right," he said as he was remembering something, "The recent arrival in the docks. So, what business do the Jedi have here?"

Just then the Mon Calamarian's Twi'lek companion came through the door, "I'm sorry if I made you wait, security's a bit tight at the docks."

"Ah, Doctor, no worries, good to see you," Namakwo replied, turning to the door and then turning back to Anata, "President Anata, may I introduce Doctor Sienn'aris of the Jedi Praxeum ship, Chu'unthor. She will be joining me. Now, back to your question. I cannot answer that question right here. I would prefer a more secure location and if you have any senior staff, they should join us."

Dallon quickly Force-dashed by his opponents and before they could react he had used his saber to cut their weapons in half. With that, he quickly Force-pushed them against a nearby wall. They might have had a few singed fingers and bruises, but their pride was hurt more than anything else. As they came to, Dallon warned, "Now get out of here before I really get serious." The Trandoshans slowly rose and limped away, grumbling, "You better watch your back, human. This isn't over."

Dallon watched and followed them with his saber until they were out of sight. He switched his weapon off, put it away on his belt and then turned to Shayera, "You can come out now, it's safe. Are you okay?" "I'm fine. I don't think that they even saw me, but they could have if you weren't here. Thank you." Shayera replied, slowly standing up and coming into view. "Or my presence could have drawn them here and put you in serious danger. If that is the case, I'm sorry." Dallon said, frowning a bit.

"So, what's a Jedi doing in a place like this?"

A good question indeed. He was here to make contact with Doram and run surveillance on Janus using the contact's network. Of course, in order to run surveillance, he would have to do something to attract Janus' attention. Seemed counterintuitive, but since his target could be anywhere on the planet he needed to do something to bring Janus into his scope of vision. He'd have to take this one step at a time. First things first, he had to find Doram.

Well, it was pretty obvious that he was a Jedi at this point, so there was no use in hiding it. But he couldn't reveal his mission to her, at least not all of it, at least not yet. And he also didn't want to appear helpless by asking for assistance. Of course, if she were a local, she would be well acquainted with the area and the people in it. It would be foolish of him to not learn from her native expertise. Most importantly, he sensed something special about her.

"I'm here to lay low and to keep a lookout for a few people. So if you'll excuse me, I must be going." He was hoping to pique her curiosity with the vague response.

"Have you ever been to the Moridebo district before? It can be a very dangerous place if you're not careful."

"No, but I'm a Jedi. I'm always careful."

"Even so, you don't know the area. You'll need someone to help you out."

"Is that so? Well I suppose you know someone who can do that?"

"You're looking at her."

"Good to hear. I'm Dallon Rikar. Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Shayera Toral, welcome to the Moridebo district and Stratablock 7."

Well, she wasn't Doram, but she still may be able to help him. Fifteen minutes later, the two of them were in an airspeeder heading away from the spaceport.

"Where are we headed?"

"To my uncle's home. I live with him. He's a mechanic, like me. He taught me everything I know about ships and other vehicles. I never knew my father and my uncle had been living with us and helping us out as long as I can remember. He was single and did not have a family of his own."

"You said you live with him, not them. What about your mother?"

She brought the speeder to a stop and paused for a moment. Shayera stared out into the distance as if recalling a long lost memory. "We were out walking…" At that her voice began to break.

Sensing her obvious distress, Dallon quickly came in, "I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable."

"No…no…I'm okay. I want you to know. Like I said, we were out walking. This was about ten years ago. We were headed to the local trade center to see what we could find. It was a route that we had taken hundreds of times before and knew beginning to end. But this time, it was different. This time, they showed up. There were two of them. They cornered us into a back alley and said they wanted our money, jewelry, anything they could sell. We didn't have much, but we gave them what we had. As soon as they had what they wanted, they pulled their weapons on us. One was pointed at me, the other at my uncle. 'Sorry, love, but we can't have any witnesses you know,' was what he said. My mother came between me and the thief, 'No, she is only a child, take me instead.' Just then, a robed figure fell from high above and landed right next to the other thief. She quickly raised her hand in front of her and waved it to her right. Almost like magic, the thief by my uncle flew through the air, following the path of her hand. He landed unconscious about twenty feet away. Using this distraction to her advantage, my mother came at the other one, trying to disarm him. They struggled for several seconds before I heard the shot. The two of them both stood there for a moment until my mother slowly collapsed onto the ground. The female figure turned to face the crook and like before, used her hand to toss him through the air and onto the ground on top of the first one. My uncle and I ran to my mother's side. She had taken a shot in her neck. The woman quickly joined us and knelt beside her. Looking at her injury she solemnly said, 'I'm sorry, this is beyond my abilities to heal.' She died right there before us."

Shayera paused and closed her eyes. "That woman was a Jedi. My uncle and I are alive because of her. We are alive because of the Jedi. Thank you for all that you do. My uncle and I are in the Jedi's debt."

Dallon was moved by her words and did his best to comfort her, "I'm so sorry. I know there's really nothing I can do or say to help you heal any faster. Only time can do that. I don't know if the Jedi teachings on death will give you the comfort you need and it's probably not what you want to hear right now, but perhaps they will provide you with insight. All I can say in that regard is to not mourn your mother; she is one with the Force now. Remember, there is no death, only the Force. Additionally, you do not owe the Jedi anything, Shayera. We do what we do because it is our duty to do what is right."

"Your words reinforce my belief that the Jedi should be held in high regard, thank you."

"You are welcome Shayera."

There was a sense of anxiousness and awkwardness among them. It wasn't being caused by each other; it was simply one of those times where no one knew what to say. It was time to continue their trip. "We better keep going." Shayera turned back around to face the controls and brought the speeder back up to driving velocity. In ten more minutes they were there.


	6. Chapter 6

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 6

Namakwo and Dr. Sienn'aris followed Anata into a small lecture hall. They were followed by six other individuals of various species and mixed evenly between male and female. The door closed automatically and locked after the last person had entered the room. Anata turned to face the Mon Calamarian and the Twi'lek, "Namakwo Ghec, Doctor Sienn'aris, may I introduce to you both my advisory council. It is composed of the six most senior department heads in the university."

After a few minutes of introductions, Namakwo got down to business. He held out his arm and pushed a button on a wristpad on a gauntlet around his forearm. It beeped in response. Okay, jamming field is up, he thought. The Mon Calamarian then pressed a separate button and a light began blinking on his wristpad as he began to seemingly wave it around the room at the people standing there. "Alright, it looks like we're clear."

"I'm sorry, what, may I ask, are you doing?" one of the advisors asked.

"My apologies," Namakwo answered, "But what I'm about to tell you is extremely sensitive. I had to make sure that this room is secure. I cannot risk any communications going in or out of this room. But now that I have confirmed that we are not being monitored, we can continue. What I am about to say cannot leave this room. If you are uncomfortable with that, then you may leave now." Namakwo paused to give them a chance to respond. After waiting for several seconds, the Jedi took their silence as consent and continued "Ok then, let's begin." He pulled a small circular metal object out of a pouch on his belt and placed it on a table. A small holoprojection of the asteroid appeared above it. Slowly, Namakwo began to explain the situation and informed them of everything that they knew about the asteroid itself and Janus' plans of destruction for it. Dr. Sienn'aris then followed up with their proposed plan to deal with the problem.

"And you wish to use our facilities and resources to carry out your plan?" Anata asked.

"Exactly," The Twi'lek doctor answered. "We believe that this would be the best way to avoid causing suspicion while at the same time giving us access to the best resources available."

Anata requested of them, "Could you give us a few minutes to discuss this please?"

"Certainly," the Jedi responded.

Anata and his advisors gathered together and began a private conversation. While the faculty discussed the pros and cons of their involvement in this plan, the two visitors in the room talked to each other as they observed the other group.

"Well, do you think they'll help us?" the Doctor asked quietly.

"Hmm…hard to say. But I can tell from the expressions on their faces that they are taking this very seriously." the Jedi responded.

Sienn'aris smiled, "That's good to know. But I'd have understood if they were a little skeptical. That's quite a story we just told them, true though it may be."

Namakwo put his hand to his chin in contemplation, "I can sense that they are concerned, as they should be. There is a great deal at stake. It would be in their best interests to help us. It's logical to assume that they will do so."

"Let's hope that they're logical then."

The two finished their conversation as they noticed that the others seemed to have reached a consensus. Anata spoke for the group, "Namakwo, Doctor, we would be honored to assist you with whatever you need. Our resources and facilities are yours."

The Jedi responded gratefully, "Thank you, sir. Your help here is greatly appreciated. Well I suppose that we should get started. We're going to need a shuttle."

"I think we can help you with that." Anata said with a confident smile on his face. "Follow me please."

With that, Namakwo turned off the jamming field and they all exited the room, Anata in the lead.

Dallon and Shayera arrived at the front door of a modest apartment on the lower levels of Stratablock 7. "It isn't much," she said, "but it's home. And it sure beats living on the surface with the ground pounders." She pushed a few buttons on a control panel next to the door which then opened, revealing the area within. She gestured to Dallon with her arm, ushering him inside, "Come on in."

The Jedi nodded before going inside, "Thank you." He emerged into a large living area with several pieces of furniture placed around, some chairs and a couch with a table in the middle. A viewing screen was on the wall opposite to the door from which he just entered. Off to his right was a small kitchen area. To his left was a hallway which he assumed led to bedrooms and bathrooms.

Shayera followed behind him, "Uncle Rem, We have a visitor." From the hallway came a middle-aged man wearing a mechanic's jumpsuit similar to what Shayera was wearing. He had a bit of oil on the front of his clothing. "What was that Shayera? I couldn't…" He stopped mid sentence when he saw she had someone with her. "Uncle, this is Dallon Rikar. He's a Jedi." Dallon extended his hand, "I apologize for this intrusion sir. Dallon Rikar. Pleased to meet you." The man returned the welcoming gesture, "Rem Toral. Likewise. What may I ask brings the Jedi Order here?" Dallon's expression turned serious, "A very critical issue I'm afraid. Perhaps we can sit down?" Rem gestures towards the table in the middle of the room, "Of course."

As they walked over to the table and began to sit down, Dallon was trying to decide in his head just how much of his mission he was going to tell them about. I don't want to put them in danger by involving them. But if I start asking questions without telling them why, then they're going to think I'm crazy or up to no good. Well…they don't need to know that their planet is in imminent danger in order to help me out. I don't want to cause a mass panic. All they need to know is that I am trying to find and distract a very dangerous person…and that I need Doram's help…whoever that is.

Dallon let out a heavy sigh and then began, "I'm tracking a very dangerous criminal in this area. This person poses a very grave threat and I want to prevent injury and loss of life. I need to run surveillance, but I need assistance. I have come to enlist the aid of someone known as Doram for the use of his information network. I was hoping, that as locals, you might know how I could contact this Doram. Is there anything that you can tell me?"

Rem's face grew suspicious and his voice defensive, "Who are you? What do you know? Who sent you here?" He stood up as he said this.

"Whoa! Hold on now," Dallon put his own hands up in defense. "I mean you no harm and I'm here of my own accord because I need help."

"Uncle," Shayera shouted, "What are you doing? Dallon is a Jedi, he's here to help us. It's okay."

Rem's expression softened as he began to calm down, "I'm sorry, Dallon. Please forgive my outburst."

Shayera explained to Dallon, "Uncle has been very protective of me since Mom died."

Rem added, "That's true, but its not just that." He hesitated before continuing, "I'm an agent for Doram, an intermediary if you will. Doram is a very powerful information broker in this area. But unlike others of his kind, he doesn't sell his secrets to the highest bidder. He uses what he knows for good, to help others. Quite a few powerful criminals have been brought down by his work. That's a lot of motive for revenge. If someone looking for payback found out I'm one of his agents, they could use Shayera or myself to get to him. Therefore I don't make my association with him common knowledge. That's why I was suspicious when you, an offworlder, started asking us about Doram. I only tell who I need to tell."

Dallon spoke up, "To be honest, I did not know of Doram nor your connection to him until I received my mission. And even then, I was only told about Doram, not you. I met your niece at the spaceport soon after I arrived and sensed something special about her. It was no coincidence. The Force was guiding me."

"Well, I don't know anything about the Force, but if Shayera trusts you, then so do I. Normally, people don't do business directly with Doram, but I'm going to make an exception in your case. I'll set something up with him myself. I should be able to set something up for tomorrow. You are welcome to stay here if you would like. We have an extra bedroom."

Dallon nods his head in appreciation, "Thank you for your hospitality."

Anata, Sienn'aris and Namakwo entered into a very large room with several small starcraft and hover vehicles inside. Groups of three or four people each were present near each vehicle, supposedly working on and maintaining the vehicles. A few of the vehicles appeared to still be under construction. There was a large set of doors on the far side of the room. Although they were currently closed, the opening would be big enough for any of the vehicles to fit through. Clearly this room was a hangar of some sort.

Hands outstretched, Anata announced, "Welcome to our experimental hangar bay. We have a variety of new and unusual designs being developed here. However, I believe that you will be most interested in what we have over here." He led the two over to what appeared to be a GX-1 short hauler shuttle craft. "I give you the Morpheus." Namakwo was confused. He knew his shuttle craft, since he had helped repair quite a few. The GX-1 was a diplomatic ship and seemed out of place in a situation like this. In fact, he wondered why they would even have one to begin with. But, as a Jedi, he had learned to never assume anything. Namakwo commented, "A GX-1, interesting. How did you acquire one of these?" The president answered him, "We found it in a scrapyard. It was in fairly good condition considering where it was. But I don't think that you're here to hear where it came from. So let's move on, shall we?" He turned to face one of the technicians nearby, "Go ahead." The technician nodded back in acknowledgment and pressed a button on a console next to him. With that, the shuttle completely disappeared from sight. A small smile appeared on Namakwo's face, "A cloaking device. Quite impressive. You generally do not see them on vessels this small. Stygium crystals I assume?" "They are," Anata answered.

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that. This will prove quite useful." Namakwo's grin widened further.

Dr. Sienn'aris asked, "May we go inside?"

"Of course," was the president's reply.

A wave of his hand and the ship reappeared before them. As they approached the outer hatch it hissed open and they stepped inside. As they entered, Anata spoke up, "Our original intent was to use this as a research vessel. We were experimenting with some new more effective stealth cloaks. However, these changes altered the nature of the stealth field and we wanted to study any possible effects on organic matter, hence the massive retrofits." He pointed to the lab set up inside and then continued, "That's also why this model of GX1 was ideal for us. Droid pilot. With a few alterations we can control it remotely. No need for a live pilot on board."

The other two looked concerned. The Jedi spoke up first, "And you want us to expose ourselves to your experimental stealth field?"

Anata put his hands up defensively, "Oh, my, goodness no. I should explain. Right now the stealth field generator is in a standard configuration. Nothing experimental. We're not going to add more risk to this mission. Sorry about that."

The Twi'lek quickly changed the subject, "Not a problem. Let's go through this equipment. I want to know what we have to work with here and if we need anything else."

An hour later, they all stepped back out into the hangar. The doctor looked at the other two, "Well, everything appears to be in order. It looks like we should be ready to go inside of a few hours. Thank you for your help President Anata."

"We should be thanking you. Without your intervention, we'd all be history."

"I'll contact Dallon and inform him of our status. Excuse me." Namakwo stepped off to the side and activated his wrist communicator.

Anata turned to the Jedi's companion, "If you prefer, we have temporary accommodations that we can set you up in while the final preparations are made."

"I appreciate the gesture, but I would like to help oversee the preparations." Dr. Sienn'aris answered.

"Of course, but the offer still stands if you change your mind."

"I'd suggest we take him up on that offer, Doctor." Namakwo rejoined the group. "I just talked to Dallon. He's in contact with one of Doram's agents. However he won't be meeting Doram until tomorrow. There's no point in us waiting here all night. Besides, this is a very important mission. We need to be well rested."

"Fair enough," the Twi'lek conceded. "Well then President Anata, I guess we'll need those accommodations after all."

"Of course. I'll take you there now. And please, I think we're past formalities at this point. You can both call me Salazar."

Dallon shut off his wrist communicator and sat down on the bed in the room that was his for the night. He just had a quick conversation with Namakwo about their status.

Well, he thought, it looks like Namakwo and the doctor are doing well. They've already found a ship that we can use. Excellent. Now it's time for me to do my part. Hopefully this Doram has tabs on Janus. Of course, if Doram is as good as Master Cordora says, then the answer is probably yes. I just hope that we can provide a useful distraction for Namakwo and the doctor. However, they are further along at this point than anticipated. They may not need a distraction anymore. But regardless, I still need to keep an eye on Janus. May the Force be with me.

Dallon prepared himself for bed and was asleep in a few minutes. He had had a long day and was very tired.

The next thing he knew he was walking around the suburbs of some city. He could see beautiful snow capped peaks and green grassy plains in the background. This place was so familiar to him. Then it hit Dallon- he was home, on Alderaan. And he wasn't just in any place, he was in his childhood neighborhood. Suddenly he saw his old home before him. Several figures walked outside. It was his family. They were alive! In an overwhelming rush of nostalgia and joy, the Jedi began to make his way towards them. Only…he couldn't. His feet were firmly immobile. He wasn't going anywhere. Then he heard it. It was almost deafening. It sounded like a deep bass horn, coming from the sky. He looked up and discovered the source of the noise. It was…he didn't quite know what it was. Dallon had never seen anything like it before. It almost resembled some sort of giant crustacean. It was almost all black and dark grey in color. It had what looked like five large segmented legs on its underside, four smaller segmented legs further up it's back and six glowing yellow "eyes" in front. There were smaller electronic looking lights all over its surface. Overall it had to be almost two kilometers in length. And it was descending, almost right on top of him. He turned back to his family. They apparently hadn't noticed what was happening. He had to help them. He screamed out to them. They didn't hear. He tried again. Nothing. Dallon screamed until he thought that he had no voice left. But still they didn't hear. And all the while, that thing in the sky was getting closer and closer. Then, something changed. He began to see a red glow form on the underside of the creature above him. He had to do something to stop it, now. The Jedi saw his lightsaber on the ground before him. It was just out of his grasp. He reached out with his hand into the Force to pull his saber towards him only to realize that something was terribly wrong. He couldn't feel the Force, it was gone. He struggled in vain to pull his saber towards him, but couldn't. Dallon looked up again and saw the red glow get brighter and brighter until a beam of red energy shot out from the creature towards his home…and family. The last thing he saw was a blinding white flash before him and then…

Dallon shot up in his bed, screaming in protest. He quickly found that he was out of breath and it took him about a minute to catch it. It was during this time that he noticed the cool blue glow in the room. He wasn't sure what it was until he realized that his right hand was holding something…his lightsaber, activated and ready for use.

"What…was that?" he panted.


	7. Chapter 7

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 7

Dallon spent most of the next morning in silent contemplation. After his rude awakening the night before, Shayera had quickly arrived in his room to check on him and make sure that he was okay. Embarrassed by his unexpected outburst, Dallon quickly tried to assure her that he was fine and that she could return to her room. Respecting his wishes, she exited the room, but she was still concerned about his well being.

His most recent dream had disturbed him. Not so much seeing the loss of his family, he was used to loss. No, what disturbed him more was the creature he saw in the sky. He had never seen anything like it anywhere before. It was like some weird cross between a crustacean, an insect and a machine. Then of course there was its size. It was big enough to be a starship, a really big one. Except it wasn't a ship, it was a living creature. Or, at least, he thought it was. Dallon kept reminding himself that it was just a dream. Or was it? Dallon certainly wouldn't be the first Jedi to have a prophetic dream. But interpreting them was another matter. Even the great Master Yoda admitted that visions of the future are difficult because the future is always in motion. But, he had more pressing matters to attend to right now. So he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind for later.

True to his word, Rem set up a meeting with Doram for that morning. The three of them were on their way to the location. They arrived at what appeared to be the entrance of a random alley.

After exiting their vehicle, motioned by Rem, the group entered the alley and began walking forward towards the end about 100 meters away.

Dallon looked confused and skeptical, "We're meeting here?"

"Not exactly" Rem said, smiling. "Over here." He directed the Jedi to stand next to him.

Dallon complied and the next thing he knew, the ground beneath them was slowly descending. It was a hidden platform! After their heads cleared the opening, Dallon looked up to see a panel slide out and close the opening. Thirty seconds later, they had reached the bottom. At that moment, Dallon felt something through the Force, a hint of danger. He wasn't sure what it was, but he had to be ready for anything. They stepped off and followed the winding hallway in front of them. As they continued, Rem began to look concerned, "Something's not right. There should be guards in this hallway." They eventually reached a door and stopped. Dallon spoke up, "Everyone behind me. You're right, something is off." He Force-pulled his saber off of his belt and into his hand, but didn't turn it on. Then he stepped forward and the door opened.

Namakwo and Dr. Sienn'aris stood proudly in front of the Morpheus. Everything was ready. They could launch now if they wanted to. They were simply waiting on Dallon to contact Doram. Salazar walked up to join them, "I assume everything is ready to go?" "It is," answered Namakwo, "We're just waiting on our friend now. I expect him to contact us shortly." As if on cue, the communicator on the Jedi's wristband began beeping. He looked down and frowned, "Oh no, we have a problem. That's Dallon's emergency beacon." "What happened?" Salazar frantically asked. "I don't know, there's no message, just the beacon." "What do we do?" the doctor turned to Namakwo. The Mon Calamarian put his hand to his chin and sighed.

Dallon stood with his right arm outstretched before him, his blue lightsaber blade pointed forward. "You!"

"Yes, it's me, Jedi," the familiar distorted voice spoke. "Did you really think I wouldn't know that you'd go to the best information broker in the Moridebo district, possibly all of Metellos?" The figure stepped forward, it was Janus, clad in the same strange armor as before. "As a Jedi, you should know to never underestimate your enemy. That's something Doram is finding out the hard way."

"What have you done with Doram?" Rem demanded.

Janus responded, "Yes, what indeed. Doram will be the first of many victims on your hands Jedi." Janus' head turned to look up, as if through the ceiling and up into the sky. Dallon took this momentary opportunity to quickly press a button on his wristpad. Janus turned back to face them, "You see, Doram is going to be able to experience the excitement up close and firsthand. Well this does change things then, doesn't it? It looks like we're going to have to move up the time table."

While Shayera and Rem were confused at this, Dallon knew exactly what he meant. "Now, hold on. There's no need for that."

"Ah…diplomacy. Admirable, but, you should stick to your strengths Dallon."

"Fair enough," Dallon replied as he prepared to attack.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Things are about to get interesting." The yellow eyes on Janus' helmet flashed brighter for a moment before the villain spoke again, "You have one hour until activation Dallon. So, do you waste it trying to kill me? Your choice."

Dallon quietly growled then looked behind him at Rem and Shayera then back at Janus. "This isn't over!"

Janus laughed before disappearing somewhere out in the back.

Dallon quickly spun back around, "Let's go!"

Shayera asked, "Wait, what's going on?"

"I'll explain along the way. But for now, we need to move." As they all made their way back down the hallway, Dallon began speaking into his wrist communicator, "Namakwo, are you there?"

Namakwo's voice was broadcast through the speaker, "I'm here Dallon. It's good to hear from you. We got your emergency beacon. The ship's ready to go. What's going on?"

"Janus found out about our meeting with Doram and intercepted it before we got there. He's taken Doram hostage. I believe Janus has him somewhere on the asteroid. Namakwo, he's remotely activated the singularity. It's set to go off in one hour."

"That's going to be a problem. If it's on a timer, then even if we get it into hyperspace, it would still activate en-route. There's no telling what could happen if a black hole is created in hyperspace in a populated star system."

"Well, we're just going to have to find a way to shut off the timer once we're up there. Not to mention rescue Doram. I'm going to need a pick up at the location I'm sending you now. Activating my locator beacon."

"Confirmed Dallon. Plotting a course now. ETA 10 minutes."

With that, the conversation was over and they had reached the hover vehicle that they had arrived in. Now it was time for a new conversation to begin.

Rem began, "Asteroids, black holes, hyperspace. What exactly is going on here?"

Well, Dallon thought, there's no point in hiding it now. I might as well tell them.

So, as quickly as he could, but without leaving out any critical details, Dallon told them of the threat to Metellos and of their plan to deal with it. Their reactions were mixed.

"You should have told us about this. We have a right to know these things." Rem told him.

"Now hold on, Uncle Rem. It's not his fault." Shayera interjected.

Dallon felt conflicted. Maybe I should have told them. But what difference would it have made? I didn't set up this catastrophe. I'm just trying to help fix it.

"Perhaps I should have. But it would have made little difference in helping to fix things. We need to focus on a solution. I came to you so that I could get information from Doram about Janus. That mission is no longer relevant. I have to stop that asteroid as well as rescue Doram. Can you please take me to these coordinates?"

Rem sighed, "Alright."

They got there just as the Morpheus was touching down. Dallon stepped out. Rem spoke up, "Please do what you can to save Doram." "I will." Shayera's head was down, silent. Dallon quickly made his way over to the entrance of the shuttle, where Namakwo was waiting for him.

"It's good to see you again, my friend," greeted the Mon Calamarian.

"Likewise," replied Dallon.

"Wait!" Dallon heard a shout from behind him.

He turned around to see Shayera running towards him. She stopped right in front of him. "Dallon," she took his hands in hers, "please be careful and…may the Force be with you." She then released his hands.

"I will Shayera, don't worry." Dallon then turned around and began to make his way back up the platform. Namakwo shot him a quick smile to which Dallon blushed for a moment before continuing. There was a quick small pull of momentum as they took off and then they were in the air.

Dallon looked at Namakwo with concern, "I'm sure that Janus will be watching us very closely now. We may have trouble reaching the asteroid undetected."

"Not to worry my friend," Namakwo smiled, "We've got that covered. Doctor? Could you please activate the cloak?"

"Affirmative, Namakwo," came a voice from the upper deck. There was a quiet hum as the cloak engaged.

"Cloak?"

"Didn't I tell you? The Morpheus comes fully equipped with a stygium crystal cloak."

"Well, you guys think of everything, don't you?"

"It wasn't us. The university was already experimenting with it."

"How fortuitous indeed. So what's our timing?" Dallon continued as they made their way to the upper deck.

"We should reach the asteroid in about 20 minutes. That will leave us around 30 minutes to find and rescue Doram and disable the remote timer for the singularity activation. Then we still need to reprogram the hyperdrive to send it to the Maw."

"Hmm… might be kind of tight until we get that timer disabled." Dallon and Namakwo were now on the upper deck. "Hello Doctor, great to finally meet you in person."

"You as well, Dallon. So, since I know that it was of concern to you before, I just ran another scan on that energy field around the asteroid."

This piqued Dallon's interest, "And?"

"Unfortunately, I can't get any new information about it. As the initial scan suggested, it doesn't appear to be lethal. But, that's about it."

"Perhaps I can sense something about it through the Force," Dallon suggested. He reached out in the direction of the asteroid with his hand and cleared his mind. He began searching for something, anything, about the asteroid and the energy field enveloping it. Then his heart sank. There was nothing there. It was like the asteroid did not exist, at least not as far as the Force was concerned. "This can't be," he muttered, half to himself and half to those around him.

"What is it Dallon?" Namakwo asked, concerned.

"The asteroid, I can't sense it. It's like it's not there."

"What?" Namakwo was taken aback. "Hold on. Let me try." Namakwo reached out and did the same thing as Dallon and was astonished to experience the same result. "What could this mean?"

"I have a bad feeling about this." Dallon looked at the asteroid as they approached it.

After what seemed like hours of tense anticipation, they were finally at the asteroid and tried to determine the best place to land.

Doctor Sienn'aris pressed a button and brought up a holographic map. "Okay guys, I've done a detailed scan of the area where the modules are. What do you think?"

Pointing at the hologram, Dallon stated, "The only life signs present on the entire asteroid appear to be in this module here. That is likely where Doram is."

"Hmm…but it appears that the control module is over here. We're going to have to split up." Namakwo suggested. "We may not have enough time otherwise."

"Alright, it looks like the modules have airlocks that we can dock with, so we won't need space suits. Namakwo, you have a better chance than me of disabling the timer and reprogramming everything. I'll take the secondary pod to the module with the life signs and rescue Doram while you two continue on to the control module. Who knows what kind of traps there may be?"

"Are you sure, Dallon?"

"I am."

The doctor cut in, "I hate to interrupt your chat guys, but we're about to pass inside that energy field."

Both Jedi looked concerned, but ready for whatever lay ahead.

The Twi'lek continued, "In three, two, one…okay we're in."

Both Namakwo and Dallon fell to their knees. They felt it immediately. It was a sudden chill throughout their bodies, then lightheadedness and an overall feeling of disorientation.

"Guys, guys! Are you okay? Talk to me. What's going on?"

They were both totally out of breath. Namakwo managed to speak first, "I'm not sure. I've never felt this before."

"I have," Dallon said grimly, "I had a dream last night. I lost all my force abilities. I was totally helpless. It's the same feeling now. That energy field…it must be some sort of force negation field."

"Force negation field? How is that possible?" Namakwo asked.

Dallon thought for a few seconds, "In my travels, I have only come across one example of this happening naturally. The Ysalamiri, lizards native to Myrkr, have the natural ability to repel the Force in a bubble around them. And even then, I never experienced it first hand; only through reputation. Perhaps someone has discovered a way to make an artificial version of this phenomenon."

"Even so," the doctor began, "how come our scan of the energy field didn't bring any of this information?"

Dallon looked ashamed, "When the Jedi first discovered Myrkr and the Ysalamiri's abilities, they feared that it could be used against them. They classified much of the data about the planet itself, its location and its unique inhabitants."

"Well it looks like another challenge has been added to this mission," replied Namakwo.

"Alright Dallon, we're approaching your module. The secondary pod is ready. Are you?"

"As I'll ever be." Dallon entered the detachable pod and prepared to separate from the shuttle. It took him a few minutes to pilot the pod to the airlock and dock with it. He stood in the airlock and listened to it hiss as the pressure equalized. When the door opened, Dallon slowly took a few steps forward. "May the Force be with me."


	8. Chapter 8

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 8

As soon as the airlock was clear, Dr. Sienn'aris pulled the shuttle back up and took it towards the control module about two kilometers away. They quickly closed that distance and docked at the airlock. When the outer door opened, they were greeted by another door, this one locked.

"I've got this one, Doctor." Namakwo held out his arm towards the door and pressed a series of buttons on his wristpad. The door opened after a few seconds. "Simple," he said. They went down a short hallway and though an open doorway on the right. "Wow," was their shared response. The room was massive, around 50 meters in both length and width. Granted, they knew the dimensions of the structure from the initial scans, but seeing it in person was something else entirely. The middle of the room was dominated by what appeared to be a massive shaft that supposedly led down into the surface of the asteroid. The shaft was surrounded by a protective perimeter fencing of sorts, probably to stop people from falling down the giant hole. Centered around the shaft were several tables and work benches. They all had various pieces of equipment on them. Some had metal crates of some sort of ore that appeared to be glowing blue. On the far wall, in the center, were what appeared to be a set of computer systems and monitors, likely the control hub Namakwo was looking for.

"That's huge!" referring to the central shaft. "I bet it goes all the way to the core." Namakwo looked excited

"Likely," added the doctor, "especially if that ore on the tables is what I think it is." She quickly made her way to the closest crate to get a better look at its contents. "I knew it. MEC-2183."

"You mean the compound at the core of this asteroid?"

"Yes, except this sample here appears to be in its unrefined and natural state. What's in the core has been purified. If possible, I'd like to take some samples, both refined and unrefined. Also, if they happen to have any relevant data stored here, that would be helpful as well."

"Feel free to collect whatever samples and data that you want, Doctor. I need to get on that remote timer."

Dallon entered into a large circular room. In the center was a large fusion reactor, active and supplying power to the rest of the asteroid through large piping that led away from the reactor and into the walls of the room. The reactor was suspended above a large chasm and there was a metal catwalk leading out to the reactor and encircling it. The catwalk continued away from the reactor to the other side of the room. There, in an alcove, was a set of controls. Sitting in a corner nearby, unconscious and propped up, was Doram. At least, he thought it was Doram. The person in front of him was a Bothan. To be honest, Rem never did tell him what species Doram was. Maybe he didn't know. Regardless of whether or not it was Doram, Dallon had an endangered person who needed to be rescued. Of course, he needed to be careful since it could be a trap. Actually, in all likelihood, it probably was a trap of some sort, knowing Janus.

Walking over, he had a thought. If this reactor supplied power to the everything on the asteroid, then perhaps he could end this whole thing now by shutting off the reactor. But what about life support? Also, could it really be that easy? He had to at least try. Dallon walked over to the alcove and quickly checked on Doram. Unconscious, but breathing. He quickly turned his attention to the control screen. After exploring the system for a while, a look of frustration appeared on the Jedi's face. "Well, it looks like this reactor only powers the sublight engines. And it appears as though the engines have now been activated. The other systems must have separate power sources."

Suddenly a very familiar voice began ringing through the room. Dallon spun around and quickly ignited his saber, but quickly realized that the voice was coming through an intercom system.

"Dallon, my friend, welcome to the next phase. Alas, you Jedi are so predictable."

"Why? Because we follow a code that compels us to protect the innocent?"

"No. Because you blindly follow that code without a second thought. There is so much that you don't know."

"Well then, why don't you enlighten me?" Dallon sarcastically responded.

"Perhaps another time. Far too much to do right now. Besides, you haven't proven yourself to me yet. Now, I'm sure that by now, you've noticed the very unique energy field that envelopes this asteroid. Let's see what you Jedi can do without your special powers. As you may have noticed, this fusion reactor powers the sublight engines which currently propel this asteroid. One of the fuel sources for this reactor is a highly poisonous gas. I'd like to introduce you to this gas."

With that, several pipes leading into the reactor hissed and a green tinted gas began flowing out and slowly floated upwards. Then, the two catwalks leading to the reactor began retracting and quickly disappeared while the circular catwalk around the reactor began moving upward until it was up near the top of the reactor, some five meters higher than its original position.

"Now the real fun begins," Janus continued. "Don't worry that gas is lighter than air so it won't reach you immediately. But as more of it fills the room it will eventually. I'd say you have about five minutes."

Dr. Sienn'aris, stunned and amazed, looked over at the Mon Calamarian Jedi with her, "Namakwo, this is incredible. According to their records, by applying an electrical current to purified MEC-2183, it releases dark energy, which can be manipulated into some sort of field. What's crazier is that apparently this field has the ability to increase or decrease the mass of any matter within it without changing that matter's volume."

Namakwo turned around in shock, "But that's impossible!"

The doctor responded, "I know, but…Ahh! That's it! That's how he's going to create the singularity. I'm not exactly sure how this process works, but with that MEC-2183 core energized, it could easily create a dark energy field large enough to encompass the entire asteroid. If the mass of the asteroid is increased greatly enough and quickly enough while keeping the volume the same, then the increased mass of the asteroid would collapse on itself to form a singularity."

Namakwo questioned, "Didn't you say that this compound was inert?"

"I did. All the Republic's data files on the compound point to that being the case. I don't understand this. Something must be missing. How are things going over there?"

"Well, as Dallon told us, this timer was triggered remotely. But it also appears as though any control functions for the timer have been locked out here. I can override that lockdown but it's going to take some time." Namakwo turned back to his work.

After a few more minutes an alarm began sounding in the room and an artificial voice began speaking, "Security countermeasures activated. Lethal force authorized. Singularity activation in one minute."

The Twi'lek looked up, "That's not good."

"I was afraid this might happen. Alright, I'm going to have to use my bypass program. It should get me inside in about 30 seconds." Namakwo quickly uploaded the program.

"Why didn't you use this in the first place?"

"Because it's not exactly the most subtle way to hack into a computer system. I was trying to sneak in through a back door. This program is like using a battering ram on the front entrance. But now that they know we're here, it doesn't really matter. Alright, I'm in. Okay, now I just need to…done. The countdown has been canceled. But it looks like their other security measures are still in place. I can try to shut them down, but…"

Just then, Namakwo was interrupted by a blast of plasma that passed just inches by his head.

"Doctor! Get down!" Namakwo shouted as he dove for cover himself. Ten blaster turrets came down from the ceiling and began firing at both of them.

"I'm guessing that these are their 'security countermeasures'", the doctor shouted from beneath a table.

"So it would appear." Namakwo was frustrated. He should have been able to sense that shot, but without the Force, he simply couldn't. If I can't sense the shots, then I have little chance of deflecting them with my saber. What am I going to do? I have to shut them down. I can't access the terminal directly without going out in the open, but my bypass program should have given my wristpad remote access. Okay, here we go. Namakwo began his work but was alarmed at what was happening. As he was trying to shut down the countermeasures, he noticed that the coding was changing and moving around before his very eyes. It was as if the programs were adapting to his hacking attempts. How was this possible? Okay, I'm going to need another plan. If I can't shut them down this way, then it needs to be the old fashioned way. But I can't sense the shots without the Force, or can I? Namakwo chuckled quietly to himself. I like that idea.

Namakwo began pushing buttons on his wristpad and the screen on the terminal began cycling through different diagnostic displays. "Come on, where is it? Ah! There it is." It stopped on what appeared to be a tactical screen for the automated security system in this room. It showed the positions of all ten turrets in the room. He watched as two of the turrets flashed on the screen and then about a second later, the corresponding turrets fired. Now he knew which turrets were going to fire. Redirecting the blasts to take out other turrets was just a matter of angles and trajectories. As long as he knew where they were coming from, he could properly redirect them. Of course he had to make sure that they were firing at him. And there was one easy way to do that. The Mon Calamarian ignited the yellow blade of his lightsaber and slowly walked out into the open.

As the green toxic gas began to descend, Dallon reached for a pouch on his belt. He kept a breather unit with him for situations like this. One would be surprised how many times he encountered toxic gas. The problem was that he only had one. He quickly went over to Doram, who had begun to wake up.

"Here, put this in your mouth, it's a breather unit." Dallon handed him the device.

"Who are you?" The Bothan was very confused and groggy.

"A Jedi. I'm here to help. Now, remember to breath through your mouth only."

With that done, Dallon went over and took a look at the large chasm that the moving of the catwalks had created. With the assistance of the Force, such a gap could be crossed with a simple series of jumps. But not anymore. Dallon began to feel a stinging sensation in his eyes which were now watering. He started coughing and covered his mouth with his arm. The effects were certainly fast. If I don't do something soon, Dallon dropped to his knees as he began feeling extremely light-headed. His vision started darkening.

"Is that the best you can do Dallon? If so, I am sorely disappointed," mocked Janus. "Oh, by the way, I am more than well aware of Namakwo and the Doctor's attempt to stop the plan. They're being…taken care of."

I have to do something now. Doram is counting on me. Namakwo is counting on me. Shayera is counting on me. But what?

Just then, he noticed a feeling deep inside him. It was powerful and raw, like a fire. It grew until it overtook his whole being. A rush of wind blew out in all directions around him, dispersing the toxic gas.

Janus' mood had clearly shifted, "Wait…what's going on?"

Dallon wasn't paying attention to that though. All he could focus on was the power flowing through him. He looked down at his hand and noticed it was surrounded by a blue flame-like aura, an aura that actually extended around his whole body. He had never felt so much power before. He had all his normal Force abilities and more. Except, it was…too much power, far too much. It was beginning to consume him. He began to focus his mind, attempting to concentrate. It was like trying to listen for a whisper in the middle of a hurricane. Then he began to think of his home on Alderaan, long ago. Dallon felt a profound sense of peace. But he quickly discovered that he had to stay focused in order to keep that peace. It took every fiber of his being and concentration to maintain control. The aura around him calmed and he slowly stood up.

"What? No! That's impossible." Janus sounded to be in shock.

Almost stoically, "The Force is with me, always." Dallon turned to Doram, "Can you walk?"

The Bothan slowly stood up and wearily spoke, "I believe so."

"Good. We're getting out of here." He walked up to the edge of the abyss and raised his hand. His physical and mental concentrations were both totally maxed out trying to maintain his current state. The catwalks slowly groaned as they moved back into their previous positions. "Alright, go on across Doram." The Bothan slowly made his way across the catwalks to the door on the other side.

Dallon was about to start moving as well when Janus interrupted, "Not so fast. This isn't over yet."

A computerized voice began to speak, "Plasma outflow valve malfunction. Emergency reactor shutdown bypassed. Pressure overload imminent."

Dallon watched as the plasma flowing through the tubes from the reactor began to slow down and then stop. The tubes carrying it began to bulge and the super heated plasma began to leak out in all different directions. As it did, it instantly melted anything it touched, including sections of the catwalk and support structures. Now parts of his path were blocked by free falling plasma. The intensity of the flow gradually increased and Dallon knew that he was running out of time. He began sprinting towards the first leak and then jumped up onto the piping above the catwalk and then quickly back down to the catwalk below on the other side of the leak. This general pattern continued as he made his way through the maze of holes and plasma leaks. Occasionally, sections of the catwalk would drop out beneath his feet. Other times he found himself on the superstructure of the reactor itself. All the while, he struggled to maintain a sense of peace and control the energy within him. As he was making one final jump to the edge of the catwalk that Doram was on, several of the plasma transfer pipes all failed at once, resulting in a massive explosion behind him. It was so bright that Doram had to close his eyes for a moment. When he looked back, he saw the silhouette of Dallon's figure slowly rising to his feet, outlined with the blue aura and back dropped by the plasma flames behind him.

"Let's go." Dallon broke the momentary silence. He approached the door, but it would not open. The emergency seal was activated. The Jedi smirked. Within seconds, his lightsaber was out and had begun piercing the door. With some patience and physical effort, Dallon had cut out a hole in the door big enough for them to fit through. And with that, they were off to find the others.

Namakwo was standing in front of the control terminal, blade extended, swatting away the enemy fire that was being directed at him. He had managed to take out eight of the ten turrets and was quickly about to have a full set. "Are you okay under there, Doctor?"

"Just fine, thanks to you."

"I'm only doing my job." As one more turret exploded.

"If only more people had that mindset." She flinched as she heard the final turret explode.

"Okay, you can come on out now Doctor."

The Twi'lek slowly emerged from the now scorched table she had been hiding under. "Thanks again Namakwo. Ready to reprogram that hyperdrive?"

"That I am." The Mon Calamarian answered. Just then, Namakwo was violently pushed backwards through the air and landed on his back a few feet from his original position. No, he wasn't pushed. He was hit. Something hit him. But what? There was nothing there. He had barely managed to stand up when he was hit again, this time on the side of his face. He had his lightsaber out, ready to guard. It was definitely a solid object, a weapon perhaps. He saw what appeared to be a fuzzy shadow moving in the air towards him before something impacted his lightsaber blade. A cloak. Whatever it was had a personal cloak. Without the Force he couldn't sense it coming. Maybe I can put out an interference field of some sort. He quickly pushed a few buttons on his wristpad and it then started making a soft buzzing sound. Just then, the fuzzy and shadowy silhouette of what appeared to be a droid became visible before him. It was holding an electrostaff in its hands and was moving right for Namakwo. "Droid," he said loud enough for the Twi'lek to hear. The Jedi quickly began parrying with his saber. Although he didn't have the Force to assist him, the movements of a droid are slower and easier to predict than those of an organic being. He settled into a fairly basic defensive pattern, blocking blow after blow. The Mon Calamarian was about to turn the tables and go on the offensive when he heard a light metallic clanking behind him. He turned around just in time to take a full force blow to the side of his head from an electrostaff. It was another cloaked droid! Namakwo's vision began to darken as he stumbled to the ground. A strike to his back was accompanied by a terrible burning sensation and a massive cramping of tissue throughout his entire body. The last thing that he saw before he blacked out was a flash of blue moving around in front of him.

When Dallon entered the room, he could see Namakwo near the far side on his knees. So he began to quickly dash over to help him. When he was almost there, he noticed some sparking and flashing behind Namakwo's back and then his friend's whole body tensed up before slumping over to the side.

"No!"

"Dallon! Look out!"

He then noticed Dr. Sienn'aris hiding nearby. He sensed something behind him and turned around to see two shadows approaching him.

"They're cloaked droids Dallon." The doctor informed him.

Droids with personal cloaking devices? This is new. I can still partially see them for some reason. Thank the Force.

He quickly blocked their attacks before beginning an aggressive counterattack of his own. He could feel the fire growing inside him and feared that he would lose control but continued anyway. He had to. The pressure he was applying to them became evident as he gradually backed them into a corner. He went in for a finishing strike but quickly found that it wasn't as finishing as he thought.

"Cortosis," he muttered. "I don't have time for this."

He proceeded to pick up both droids with the Force and drop them into the chasm underneath the drill shaft in the center of the room. He rushed over to Namakwo's side next. Doctor Sienn'aris followed. He put two fingers on his friend's neck, then his hand on his chest.

"He's alive, but I sense he is unstable and failing."

The glow around Dallon intensified and then began to envelope Namakwo as well. A few seconds later the glow disappeared entirely and Dallon fell over backwards, looking completely exhausted. Then the Mon Calamarian began to groan, "Ugh, what happened?"

"Electrostaff," Dallon replied from the floor. "The rest is a long story. I'll tell you later."

"Okay...right…um…hyperdrive," he continued, still somewhat confused. He slowly got up and made his way back over to the main console. He reached for a container on his belt, pulled something out, looked at it and froze. "Oh no."

"'Oh no' isn't good Namakwo."

"The OSD that had all the hyperdrive reprogramming on it must have been fried by that electrostaff strike."

"What are we supposed to do now?"

"I can reprogram it myself right now. But its going to take a while. I'd also have to hack into the navigation system."

"Is that a problem?"

"Not usually."

"But?"

"But this computer system is unlike anything I've ever seen before. The code is adaptive. It's constantly changing itself in response to my hacking attempts. It's making itself immune It's almost like it's self aware. But I can still handle it. I just have to introduce something that it hasn't seen yet. I'm going to introduce a decoy program into the power control systems first, then focus on the navigation system while it's distracted."

"Hold on," Sienn'aris asked, "Where's Doram?"

"He's fine," Dallon answered as he slowly got up. "He's on my pod."

So, as Namakwo reprogrammed the hyperdrive and safety systems, they all caught up with each other regarding their most recent experiences. Needless to say, it made for good conversation. The doctor also took this time to make sure she had gathered all the new data she could on MEC-2183, as well as a few physical samples.

"There we go, finished," the Mon Calamarian finally said, "We have five minutes until the hyperdrive activates. Let's get out of here."

They moved quickly, Dallon to his pod where Doram was. The other two headed for the Morpheus, where Dallon and Doram quickly joined them by redocking the pod. They all watched as the asteroid jumped into hyperspace in a blur, never to be seen again.


	9. Chapter 9

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 9

The next few days were a bit of a blur for the two Jedi. Upon return to Metellos, they headed for Ektra. Once at the university, Dallon disembarked with Doram for the Moridebo district. Sure, Doram could have returned on his own, but Dallon wanted to finish this in person. Also, thoughts of Shayera began to occupy more and more of his conscious mind. Part of him wanted to see her again. But part of him was also concerned. Jedi were forbidden from romantic involvement. But is that what this was? A romantic interest? Or just professional concern? Dallon didn't know and that worried him even more.

The two of them met up with Shayera and Rem in a small plaza near their apartment. As they talked, Doram informed them that he would be temporarily leaving Metellos to go to Coruscant. He had managed to gather a great deal of information on Janus and he wanted to share everything he could with the Jedi. He felt that he owed them a debt not only for saving his life but also his planet. He thought that this was the least he could do. He stepped off with Rem to discuss some business matters for when he was away. That gave Dallon and Shayera a few minutes alone.

"Dallon…I…thank you, for everything that you've done for us. And I'm really glad you're okay."

"Shayera, you don't have to—"

"I know, I know. You're a selfless Jedi, all in the line of duty. But, there's something else. I know that we just met, but I'm finding that I care about you, a lot."

"Shayera, I—"

However, he was interrupted again. Not by words this time, but by her hand on his shoulder. He tensed at the surprise.

Shayera looked concerned, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"No, it's okay. It's just that, the Jedi aren't supposed to get involved in relationships. But more than that, I don't know how I feel right now. A lot of stuff has happened to me recently and I have all sorts of thoughts going through my head. I don't know what to think right now. I need some time to figure things out."

"I understand. Well, regardless, thank you."

On the way back to Ektra, Dallon decided to focus on other things. He wanted to know more about what had happened to him on the asteroid. What was that? Was it the Force? But what about that field? I wonder if I can do it again? But could I control it? It was so powerful. It took everything I had to keep it under control.

When Dallon arrived back at the university, he was greeted by Namakwo and Dr. Sienn'aris. "Great news Dallon," the Mon Calamarian began, "The university is giving us the Morpheus."

"Seriously? That's great! We could really use that."

"Yeah, they said that after everything that we did for them, it was the least that they could do. I figured that we could take the Morpheus back to Coruscant and remotely program our interceptors to return automatically."

"Sounds good to me," Dallon replied.

"You are welcome to come with us Doctor," added Namakwo.

"Thank you. I'd appreciate that. Never been a big fan of public transportation."

"Dallon, what about Doram?"

"He's arranged his own transportation."

"Well, okay then. Shall we be going?"

"Let's go."

When they arrived back at Coruscant, the two Jedi said their goodbyes to Dr. Sienn'aris before she headed back to the Chu'unthor. From there, she planned to continue researching MEC-2183 using the new information and samples that she had obtained. She would update the Jedi with her results. After that, Dallon and Namakwo headed for the Jedi Temple. There was much to discuss. Once there, they were both greeted by their respective masters. They went off separately and gave detailed accounts of what happened on the mission. It was during this time that Doram arrived at the Temple in order to give his own account as well as any information that he possessed on Janus. After their debriefing, the two padawans returned to their temporary quarters while their masters conferred with the Jedi Council.

"Dallon, I never got the chance to properly thank you for saving me up there. Cloaked droids are tricky enough, but without the guidance of the Force, it was…well…"

"Think nothing of it my friend. Besides, without you, we never would have been able to stop that asteroid. That was a lot of quick and smart thinking that you did up there."

"Thanks. So then, I have to ask. What happened to you up there? I didn't see much, but from what the doctor told me, you were amazing."

"To be honest, I'm not quite sure Namakwo. All I know is that I was about to give in when all of a sudden I felt this incredible power flowing through me. But it was raw and volatile. It took every ounce of effort and focus that I had to keep it under control. I'm not sure and I don't know how, but I think that it was the Force."

"Inside the negation field?"

"I know. It sounds crazy. But I can't think of any other explanation."

"Speaking of the negation field, how did you know about the…what did you call it?"

"The Ysalimiri?"

"Right, from Myrkr."

"Well, like I said, I've never seen them in person or been to Myrkr. However, I overheard Master Cordora talking about it once with another Jedi Master. She was saying that she thought it was a bad idea for the Jedi to keep this a secret. If the inhabitants of the planet are a threat to us, she said, then all Jedi need to be properly informed about it so that they can be prepared."

"What do you think Dallon?"

"I agree with her."

There were a few minutes of silence, then they continued.

"Dallon, I know it's not any of my business, but…about you and Shayera. What's going on there? You know what the rules are. I won't say anything, but if you get caught…"

"There's nothing there. At least, I don't think so. I mean, nothing serious happened. But to be honest, I don't really know what to think about that."

"Well, if you need to talk to someone in private about it, I'm here for you my friend."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

They were soon summoned to appear before the Jedi Council. As they entered the Council chambers, both Master Cordora and Master Mons were present. Then of course there was the Council itself. Some were physically present, while others were there through a hologram. While the entire membership was not in attendance, many were. They included Grand Master Yoda, Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Master Mace Windu, Master Plo Koon, Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, Master Kit Fisto, Master Shaak Ti, Master Agen Kolar and Master Saesee Tiin.

Grand Master Yoda spoke first, "Welcome, welcome. Good it is to see the future of the Order. Continue our legacy you will. For that reason has this meeting been called. Strictly structured trials must our Padawans go through in order to test their training. At times however, unusual circumstances does the Force present. Ignore these we cannot." Yoda then nodded at Mace Windu for him to continue.

"The recent events to have transpired here at the Temple and on Metellos are most disturbing. And while we cannot take these threats lightly, we can't let them paralyze us either. The longer we let this go, the greater the risk of disaster. This being said, your efforts to resolve the situation are commendable."

Obi-Wan spoke next, "We have seen the recordings of your individual debriefings as well as the testimonies of Dr. Sienn'aris and Doram. However, we wanted to give you the opportunity to speak before us now on your own behalf, if you so choose."

Namakwo quickly glanced at Dallon, who nodded, before taking a step forward. "Grand Master Yoda, other venerable Jedi Masters, thank you for taking this time to listen to us. I am of the belief that actions speak louder than words. We did what we could to save as many lives as possible. Although you were not able to witness our actions in person, the various testimonies you have observed give you a fair view of what happened. I believe, and I think that Dallon will agree with me, that we should be judged by our actions alone in this matter. Promoting ourselves with our own words would be selfish and goes against the Jedi Code."

"In agreement you both are?" Master Yoda asked.

The padawans both nodded.

"Very well," he continued and then nodded at Plo Koon who spoke next.

"If you would both step forward. Namakwo, you proved your technical skills against an unknown and adaptable computer system while under serious time constraints and in the face of extreme danger. Additionally, you put your own life at risk to protect Dr. Sienn'aris through your lightsaber skills, knowing full well that you would not have the assistance of the Force. Your ability to think on your feet and improvise a solution allowed the mission to be successful.

Dallon, in your rescue of Doram, you chose to give him your one rebreather in order to protect him from the toxic gas. In doing so, you selflessly put others before yourself. Although we don't know why or how, the Force chose to manifest itself in a special way in you. Perhaps in order to overcome the effects of the field, it chose a very raw and powerful form. Regardless of the why and how, the important part is what happened next. Your ability to maintain control in the face of such raw power is exactly what the Trial of Skill is looking for. Finally, your intervention allowed Namakwo and Dr. Sienn'aris to complete their parts of the mission."

Yoda began again, "The decision of this Council it is that the Trials of Skill and Courage have you both passed. Through your actions have your abilities been proven. May the Force be with you both."

"Thank you Master Yoda," both padawans responded with a formal bow.

Back on board the Chu'unthor, Dr. Sienn'aris was hard at work analyzing the samples of MEC-2183 that she had collected along with the data that she had found on the asteroid. Unfortunately, she seemed to be encountering some problems and her frustration was apparent. She began talking aloud, hoping that it would help her think better.

"I don't understand…hmm…maybe if I, no that won't work, I already tried that. These samples are clearly MEC-2183, but they are exhibiting none of the properties that were mentioned in this data that I found on the asteroid. It's inert, just like the Republic database says. I'd say that this new data that I found is false, if it weren't for those initial scans that I ran while on the asteroid. Those scans of this substance seem to support this new data. Yet now, when I perform those same tests on the same substance, I get totally different results, results that support the original Republic data. Something must be different, but what?"

She thought back to the mission which had just occurred a few days before-the shuttle flight to the asteroid, the module on the surface, the Force negation field, the…Wait a second, Force negation field? Could it be? Why didn't I think of it before?

She returned to talking aloud. "What if the negation field is causing it? No, not the field itself but the absence of something-the Force. If you take away all the mysticism that the Jedi add to it, the Force is essentially an energy field created by all living things. Some beings have midi-chlorians in their body which interact and connect with that energy field. This interaction and connection give the Jedi their abilities. But who knows what other effects this field might have on matter. What if the energy field is making this compound inert? What if this compound only has these abilities in the absence of the Force? Hmm…of course I have no way to test this theory right now. I still have no idea how that negation field was created. However…I do know one place where they are created naturally. Computer, bring up any database entries on the Ysalimiri, a native of Myrkr."

"Classified information requested. Insufficient security clearance. Unable to comply."

"Wow, Dallon was right about the Jedi trying to hide this. Okay then. Computer, who has proper security clearance for this information?"

"Only Jedi Masters and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine have that level of security clearance."

"Well, this is going to be harder than I thought."

Janus stepped out of the airlock into the main corridor of the small space station that he had just arrived at. He walked past a dozen different doors lining the sides of the hallway, ignoring them all. He had one destination in mind, the door at the end. As Janus approached it, it opened automatically, revealing the room's contents. Immediately inside was a raised balcony area overlooking the rest of the room. It was lined by a railing along its edge and had two sets of stairs on each side leading to the lower part of the room. This lower section was mostly made up of different computer workstations. Each one had someone sitting at it, busily working away and totally focused on what was on their individual screens. Many different species were represented in the group. The far end of the room was one large viewing window, looking out into space. In that space was a large metallic partial sphere, only partial because it was still under construction. Inside the sphere were large concentric rings emanating from the center. Many large pieces of construction materials were floating in the vicinity of the sphere. Some were being carried by robotic drones. Back on the balcony, by the railing, was a robed and hooded figure, all in black.

It was this figure that Janus approached, "Master, I have returned."

Without turning around and rather annoyed, the figure replied, "That is apparent."

"Yes, sorry Master. The Jedi, they stopped the asteroid. Metellos is saved. They both proved much more…resourceful than anticipated."

"It is of no concern."

"But Master, the effort and resources that went into…"

Turning around to face Janus, "I said it is of no concern!" Janus quickly found himself violently pushed back against the wall. "Remember that you work for me. When I found you, you were nothing." With that he remotely pulled off the mask Janus was wearing to reveal the person underneath. "Now return to your quarters and wait there until I summon you." Janus fell back to the ground.

"Yes Master" Janus quickly got up and left the room.

The figure continued to himself, "That fool Sidious thinks that he knows power? He knows nothing! Soon I will be able to complete my work and initiate the Purging. Then the Sith'ari will return at last."


	10. Chapter 10

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 10

While waiting for Janus' next message to appear, Dallon and Namakwo spent some time apart. Namakwo decided to assist with the effort on the Temple network. By this point, it had become fairly organized. Three different groups had been created: one to scrub and then back up the Archives, one to search for the virus and one to try and figure out how the network was hacked to begin with. Unfortunately, the Temple's resources were already heavily taxed, so only a few people could be devoted to each group. As a result, progress was slow. Namakwo was not officially assigned to any particular one, therefore he moved around between them to wherever he was needed most. Dallon, on the other hand, decided to spend some time in meditation. He wanted to know more about his experience on the asteroid. He was determined to recreate what had happened to him so that he could further hone his self control. However, so far, he had been unable to do so. As he continued to center himself, Dallon searched for some remnant or sign of that great power that had engulfed him before. But he could find nothing.

After about a day of this, the call finally came for them. They returned to the same room as before with Master Cordora and were soon greeted with the familiar holographic representation of Janus' head. "Hello again Jedi. I must say that I was quite impressed with your work on Metellos. The results were…unexpected. We're going to try something a little different this time though. How does a scavenger hunt sound? Not that you have a choice, I was just being polite. This hunt is going to take you all the way out to Tund. Somewhere, deep in one of the planet's jungles, lies a very ancient and very powerful artifact. All you have to do is find it. I don't even care what you do with it afterwards, just find it. Although, I would be careful and quick about it. I may have told the Sorcerers of Tund about it as well. You may want to get to it before they do. And just so it's not too easy, I have a couple of terentateks guarding the area around the artifact. I'm not going to tell you what the artifact looks like, but you'll know when you're getting close because it'll call to you. Good hunting."

"This has 'trap' written all over it. Honestly, a scavenger hunt? This is ridiculous!" Dallon stated, clearly annoyed.

"Maybe so, but that artifact could be extremely dangerous, especially with a group like the Sorcerers of Tund. In the wrong hands, it may…" Namakwo started.

"It may not even exist at all! He wouldn't even show us what it looked like, remember?" Dallon interrupted.

Namakwo sighed before answering, "I know, but if it is real, we can't let them get it. And even if it's not real, there's still the threat of the virus to our network here."

Master Cordora stepped in "Both of you, stop arguing. You're missing the point. The artifact, real or not, is not the immediate threat right now. It's the terentateks."

"Oh right, he did mention those. But…I've never even heard of them. Have you Namakwo?"

The Mon Calamarian shook his head in response.

The two Padawans both looked to the Jedi Master for guidance, "That's because they were thought to have been exterminated a long time ago. They first appeared on the Sith world of Drommund Kaas almost 5,000 years ago. They resemble a rancor in appearance, but also have many spikes on the back of their head and tusks by their mouth. All are highly venomous. Their hides appear to be resistant to Force based attacks. But worst of all, they feed on the blood of Force sensitives. They're Jedi killers. So much so, that the ancient Sith used them against us on multiple occasions in the past. It's even believed that they used their dark alchemy to create terentateks of their own. In the past, the Jedi Council sent out groups of knights to hunt these creatures down. It was only partially successful. But gradually, the sightings and attacks subsided and it was believed that the remaining ones had died out. It appears as though we were wrong. If they really are there, those abominations pose a threat to the entire Jedi Order, especially if there are more elsewhere. You cannot allow anyone, be it Janus or the Sorcerers of Tund, to take them off of that planet. They must be destroyed. And if at all possible, it must be determined how many there are. Fortunately, according to Janus, they are likely to be in the vicinity of the artifact, if it exists. We can take care of both together."

"Master, If they really are that dangerous, then the two of us should probably stay together for this mission. I think Dallon will agree."

"As much as I would like to test my saber skills solo on one of those things, you're right Namakwo. You always were the voice of reason."

"You two also need to be wary of the Sorcerers of Tund. They are a group of dark side Force users originally founded by outcast pure blooded Sith priests many millennia ago. They are masters of deception and are not fond of outsiders."

"Should we monitor them Master?" Dallon asked.

"As a secondary objective only. Your first and most important objective is to find and terminate those terentateks and determine if there are more elsewhere. Search for the artifact, as long as it does not interfere with your first objective. I suspect the creatures and the artifact will be close to each other. If necessary, we can reevaluate the objectives as conditions change. We can decide what to do with the artifact if and when it is found."

"Sounds good, Master. I think that for this mission, we should take the Morpheus. With its stealth cloak, we can help avoid suspicion." Namakwo suggested.

"Agreed. I suggest that you both depart as soon as possible. May the Force be with you both."

The two padawans left the room and made their way to the shuttle bay where the Morpheus was currently docked. As they were headed out to the Outer Rim, they would need to make sure that the ship was stocked with the various food and supplies that they would need for the long journey.

Dallon took this time to reflect on his actions. "Hey…Namakwo. Umm…I was kind of hard on you in there. I took my frustration out on you. I'm sorry."

"Dallon, my friend, truly, don't think anything of it. With everything that's going on, I'd be surprised if you weren't frustrated."

"But what about you? You always seem so much more calm."

"I get frustrated, just like you. I suppose I just don't show it that much. But we all have our strengths and weaknesses. It's important that we recognize what they are. I know for instance that you could outclass me in lightsaber combat any day of the week."

Dallon's mood lightened at that comment and he smiled, "I do believe that you're right about that."

Four or five days later, the Morpheus, with the two Jedi aboard, exited hyperspace near Tund and was immediately rendered invisible by its stealth cloak.

Dr. Sienn'aris stood in a clearing, looking out at the forests of Myrkr. Getting there had taken a little effort, especially since the Jedi pretended it didn't exist. She ended up booking passage with a private armed escort service. Although the civilized galaxy generally ignored it, it was a favorite hideaway for pirates and other criminals, so she was told. She had also heard stories of a vicious predator native to the planet. They were called vornskrs and amazingly, they had the ability to track their prey using the Force. So she figured that an armed escort couldn't hurt. He stood close by behind her, waiting for her to take the lead. His name was Rek. The Twi'lek had two cases with her. One had some samples of MEC-2183 in it, the other had some of her testing equipment. From her investigations she had a fairly good idea of what the ysalimiri looked like and where to find them, so she decided it was time to get going.

"Okay," she said to Rek, "follow me."

"Yes, ma'am."

They continued on into the forest, looking for the olbio trees where the elusive lizards lived. After about twenty minutes of walking, they encountered a group of about a dozen olbio trees, supposedly filled with ysalimiri. And sure enough, upon closer inspection, they discovered them sitting on the branches.

"Alright then," she said, " let's set up over here," as she pointed to one of the trees near the center of the group. After walking over, Dr. Sienn'aris opened up one of her cases and started taking out the equipment and setting it up. Then she opened up the other container to reveal several samples of MEC-2183 that she had obtained from the asteroid. Then she quickly got to work. After about half an hour of testing, she finally had her answer.

"Unbelievable!" she exclaimed, "I was right. This compound now has all the properties that it did on the asteroid. It didn't have them when I tested it on the ship. The only difference is the absence of the Force. That has to be it. Somehow, the Force seems to be neutralizing the natural properties of this substance. Amazing. I need to bring a few of these ysalimiri back with me for further testing." Turning to her guard behind her, she said "Hey, I'm probably going to need some help capturing a few of these things."

"That may not be possible right now ma'am." Rek responded.

"What? Why not?"

"Because we're being watched."

Her heart jumped a little as she heard those words. "Watched? By whom?"

"Not who, what. Vornskrs." He crouched down as he said this and the Twi'lek quickly did the same.

"You mean the native predators who hunt their prey using the Force?"

"That's right, Doctor. They've probably been tracking us since we first landed. Once we entered the Force void, they could still follow us visually."

"Can you tell how many there are?"

"Hmm…Well, I'm seeing about a dozen so far, but there may be more."

Although she had been told of the creatures, she had never actually seen one herself. That is, until now. On top of a hill about twenty meters away stood a large canine beast with a long whip like tail and dark brown and shaggy fur. It's eyes seemed to glow red as it growled. It then let out a bone chilling howl that could be heard far and wide. Then, as if in response, more howls began breaking out in all directions around them. They were surrounded.

"Alright, stealth cloak is now engaged," stated Namakwo, "We should have a fairly easy approach now."

"About time," Dallon chuckled, "I need a change of scenery and some fresh air. All this sitting around is driving me crazy."

"We'll be entering the atmosphere shortly and, honestly, I'm not really sure where to start. I'd suggest that we avoid using the Force to search for anything for right now. I don't want to risk alerting any Force sensitives to our presence if we don't have to. There are a lot of jungles on this planet. I could run some bioscans of those areas for the terentateks, perhaps narrow our search area at least. Also, if that artifact is as real and powerful as Janus said it is, then it is probably giving off an energy signature. I could scan for unique ones."

"Good ideas Namakwo. It would probably be best to do both. Janus gave us almost no information about location. We're going to need all the help that we can get. In addition, let's monitor any local communications that we can find. You never know what people might be talking about."

So, for the next hour, they scanned and monitored whatever they could, looking for a lead.

"Namakwo, anything?"

"Not yet. The thick jungle canopies may be interfering with the bioscan. As for the energy signature, there's nothing out of the ordinary, nothing you wouldn't expect to see in settlements like this. If the artifact is real and generating power, then it is exceptionally well shielded. How about you Dallon?"

He sighed, "So far, there has been no mention of the Sorcerers of Tund or anything else suspicious. All I've heard are diplomatic transmissions, trade deals and local news broadcasts. Speaking of which, apparently the weather in the capital is supposed to be nice for the rest of the week."

Namakwo smiled, "Very funny."

"Well," Dallon sighed, "I don't think that this is getting us anywhere. I think we are going to have to risk reaching out. Perhaps only one of us to start. May I?"

"Be my guest."

Dallon sat down and began to relax his body and calm his mind. Then he began to reach out, first to his surroundings in the ship, then to the space around the ship, finally to the surface of the planet below.

"There's…something here. I can sense it. It feels…familiar. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I've sensed this before. No, wait. I know what this…oh no. It's here."

Suddenly he felt as though something had grabbed him and pulled him from the ship. The next thing he knew, he was in a black formless void. Try as he might, he couldn't return to the ship. It was like he was locked in place. A dark and seemingly disembodied voice spoke to him. It had a hollow and metallic tone to it. All the while, he kept hearing whisperings in the back of his head that he couldn't quite make out.

"Human, male. Identify."

"Who am I? You're the one who pulled me out here without asking and doesn't even show his face. Who are you?"

"What you choose to call us is irrelevant. We simply are."

"Well I think it's relevant to me. Who are you?!"

A familiar figure appeared before him. It was the strange creature from his dream on Metellos.

"We are the end of everything."

"It's you!" Dallon exclaimed, shocked at this reveal.

With that, Dallon snapped back into reality and found himself back on the Morpheus. Namakwo was kneeling in front of him, with his mouth moving, but Dallon couldn't make out any words yet.

"…hear me? Dallon, are you okay?"

"I'm…I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Namakwo asked again. "As soon as you said 'It's here," your eyes went blank and you went into some sort of catatonic state. What happened?"

"I…I saw it. I talked to it."

"To what?"

"That ancient evil I sensed a while back? I saw it's source."

"Is it here?"

"No, I don't think so. It felt like a remote connection. Perhaps it's communicating through the artifact."

"Well Dallon, it looks like that artifact might be a lot more dangerous than we thought."

"I guess you were right."

"It does happen from time to time."

Just then, the ship started shaking violently and multiple alarms were going off.

Namakwo jumped up and went to the controls, "Propulsion, navigation and communication systems are all offline. We're losing altitude fast."

"What about the pod?"

Namakwo looked at the console, "It's not responding either."

Dallon remarked, "It looks like we're going in."


	11. Chapter 11

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 11

Rek quickly looked around their immediate surroundings and then to the Twi'lek. "Quick, into the tree," he said, pointing to the olbio tree beside them.

"Seriously?"

"Do you have a better plan?"

They couldn't fight all of them and they couldn't outrun them. She knew Rek was right. So she quickly made her way to the tree and began climbing the branches, leaving her samples and equipment on the ground. Rek was right behind her. They made it about 5 meters up the tree by the time the vornskrs made it to the base and began clawing at the trunk while standing on their hind legs.

"At least we have the high ground," Rek said as he took a few shots at the vornskrs with his blaster. The shots temporarily scattered them, but they soon regrouped at the base, with more still off in the distance. From this angle, Rek counted about two dozen of the canine like beasts.

"Yes, but we can't hold them off indefinitely." The doctor said, worried.

This pattern continued for an hour or two until it started to get dark. In that time, Rek was able to eliminate a handful of the beasts, but plenty still remained. As night began to fall and their view became increasingly dark, Rek thought that he noticed something in the distance, beyond the vornnskrs. It looked like movement in the underbrush of the jungle that they were in.

Movement? Is there something else out here? Another predator? He thought.

Just then, a barrage of plasma blasts came out of the forest and into the clearing that they were in, towards the vornskrs. At least six of them fell. This was followed up by another barrage and then came the charge. Twelve individuals, some human, some wookie, came rushing out of the bushes, ready to attack. Many of the humans held large bladed weapons, but the wookies went in with just their bare hands. They met the vornskrs head on in melee combat. This of course drew the beasts away from the base of the tree that Dr. Sienn'aris and Rek were in.

"It must be some sort of hunting party. Quickly! Let's go now while they're distracted. It may be our only chance."

They quickly climbed down the branches and made their way to the ground. As soon as they did, the doctor began to collect her samples and equipment.

"There's no time for that. We have to go, now!" Rek shouted.

"This data is why we came. It may very well prove vital in helping a much greater cause. We are not leaving here without it." The Twi'lek firmly responded.

Rek sighed and then knelt down to help her, "Very well. Let's be quick about it then."

After about thirty seconds everything was packed in the two cases they had arrived with. As they stood up to go, Rek seemed to remember something, "Oh, right. I almost forgot."

"Huh?" The doctor faced him.

Rek took off his outer jacket and used it to quickly capture a ysalimiri that was sitting on the lowest branch of the tree that they were just in. The lizard kept squirming around inside his jacket and Rek had to hold it against his chest to keep the creature still.

"You said you wanted one of these, right?"

"I did, didn't I? With all the chaos from those vornskrs, I had totally forgotten about that. Thank you Rek."

"Just doing my job ma'am. Speaking of which, we need to get you out of here. Ship's this way."

They quickly made their way away from all the fighting and chaos and into the jungle towards the shuttle they had arrived in. By the time the pair made it to their destination, they were understandably out of breath. Along the way, they had been ambushed twice by a few vornskrs that had followed them. Fortunately, Rek was prepared for that possibility. After a few minutes of catching their breath, they were on the shuttle, with what they came for intact, on their way back to known space.

"Ughh…my head," Dallon groaned, holding his head. "That was quite a landing Namakwo. Namakwo?"

As he began to open his eyes, Dallon realized that something was wrong, very wrong. The Jedi took in his surroundings and saw that he was no longer on the Morpheus, he was lying down in a bed.

"Wait. Where am I? What's going on?"

"Dallon, dear, what is it honey?"

Dallon quickly turned to face the source of the unexpected voice. He was shocked to see that it was Shayera speaking to him from the other side of the bed.

"Shayera? Is that you? What are you doing here?" He quickly jumped up out of the bed.

"Dallon, relax. It's okay." Shayera reached her arm out towards him. "Come back and lay down."

"Relax? What do you…This can't…" He began backing up from the bed towards a window. That's when he saw it. He'd recognize that view anywhere, anytime. It was Aldera. He was home, on Alderaan.

Dallon collapsed on the floor by the window, "How did…What's going on?"

Shayera was soon by his side, kneeling down with her hand on his shoulder.

"Just take a few seconds to breathe deep and relax. We're at home, on Alderaan. We got married two years ago, remember?"

"Married? What are you talking about? I'm a Jedi, I can't get married."

"No, you're not. You were diagnosed with schizophrenia a year ago. Your mind developed an alternate life for yourself where your family was killed and you became a Jedi. It created a lifetime's worth of memories to accompany this fantasy. You've been on steady medication for the past year to treat it. It works well, but the doctor said that even with the medication, sometimes the false memories from this fantasy can surface in your dreams. When this happens, the false memories can conflict with your real memories and cause the disorientation that you are experiencing now. It's okay. Give your mind a moment to adjust so that your real memories can resurface."

"Real memories? What…" Dallon was interrupted by a rush of memories flooding his brain. It was all there- his childhood on Alderaan with his family, growing up, going off-world to travel, meeting Shayera, their marriage, his diagnosis-as real as day. "My parents…they're alive?" A single tear formed in his eye.

"Of course, my love. We just had dinner with them last week, remember?"

He did remember. They went to a new restaurant by their house. The food was incredible and they had a great time. They talked about Shayera's new job. She's a mechanical engineer for a local starship manufacturer. But, this couldn't be real…could it? His 'other' set of memories of his life as a Jedi were still there in his mind, but they lingered in the background, like shadows.

Shayera took his hand in hers, "Come back to bed with me Dallon. It's still early. We can spend the whole day together later."

Maybe she was right. Maybe this was his life. He decided to give himself some time to think it over.

"Okay Shayera," he said, standing up, and followed her back to bed.

Namakwo crouched in the tall grass on the top of the hill that he was on. It was a perfect spying position for the mountainside entrance it overlooked. There were six terentateks, that he could see, patrolling the entrance. Poor abominations, he thought, Apparently Janus neglected to mention a few of them. I'm assuming that means the artifact is here too. The signal is coming from in there. This has to be where Dallon is.

Eight hours earlier-Namakwo began to awake in a haze. He found himself a few feet from where he had been right before they crashed. Now he was sitting with his back to one of the walls while he tried to fully regain consciousness. His vision was still dark and blurry and his motions were sluggish. The Mon Calamarian saw four humanoid figures wearing black cloaks walking towards him. However, they weren't apparently interested in him. They turned and began to pick up Dallon, who was still seemingly unconscious. Namakwo immediately tried to protest by attempting to stand up but as soon as he did darkness overwhelmed his vision and he found himself face down on the floor. However, he quickly recovered.

"No! Dallon!" Namakwo stumbled through the now open door and into the jungle outside. "Stop!" He lunged at one of the dark figures and managed to grab a leg, but was soon met with a swift kick to the face. Unbeknownst to his attacker however, Namakwo managed to place a tracker on figure's leg. The last thing that he heard before he passed out was the sound of a speeder rushing off. About fifteen minutes later, the Mon Calamarian re-awoke and sat up. With his head down, Namakwo took several deep breaths while his vision cleared. When he was ready, he stood up and assessed the situation. He needed to find Dallon, but he did not want to rush in unprepared. He had to see what he had to work with. The ship appeared to have crashed in the middle of a jungle. "What happened? Did they hit us with something? But the cloak was on. How could they have seen us?" Namakwo walked back to the Morpheus to take an account of the damage. "Hmm…minor structural damage, but nothing that threatens hull integrity. However main power, propulsion and communication systems are shot. I can get them working but not without replacement parts. For now, I'll just focus on where our mystery attackers went." He pressed a few buttons on his wrist pad, "Ah, there they are. They appear to have stopped. Hmm, I don't suspect that I'll be able to find any replacement parts in this jungle. So it looks like I'll be going on foot. I'd say it's about an eight hour walk. I better get going." Namakwo looked at the open entrance to the ship. "And how did they manage to get that door open? It was locked." Namakwo put the thought out of his mind for the time being, gathered what food, water and other supplies he could carry and began his trek.

A few hours into his journey, he came across what looked like some sort of outpost. But he soon discovered that something was quite off about the place. Perhaps it was the strange feeling that he got upon getting there, but more than likely it was the six metallic spikes that he saw at the entrance of the settlement. Each one was about five meters in height and they appeared to have a dark liquid residue on them. Upon closer inspection, Namakwo determined that it was blood.

"What happened here? This is really disturbing." Just then he heard some rustling nearby, further inside the settlement. Namakwo turned in the direction that he heard the sound come from, "Hello? Is there anyone there? Are you hurt? Do you need help? I'm a Jedi representing the Galactic Republic." No response. It was then that the Mon Calamarian noticed that he could not sense any sentients through the Force. Then he heard the rustling again, but this time it was accompanied by a high pitched screech and it sounded closer than before. He approached closer to investigate. As Namakwo moved further into the settlement, he saw more of the spikes. On the edge of his vision, something dashed by and into a building behind him. "What's going on? I couldn't sense that at all." He went towards the doorway of the building and saw something just inside, kneeling in the shadows.

Suddenly, it lunged at him. Namakwo quickly dodged out of the way and was able to get a look at it. It had the traditional features of a Toong- the disproportionately large head, the jaunted cheeks and the eyes near the very top of their head. However, the similarities ended there. Its skin was metallic grey in color and it had large glowing blue veins running all over its body. It appeared to have multiple cybernetic implants sticking out of its skin. The creature raised and turned its head to look at Namakwo with bright blue eyes, artificial and lifeless.

It screeched again and lunged for a second time, only to be met by Namakwo's outstretched arm and a brief but intense Force push. "What is that?" Unfortunately for him, he got his answer in a way that he did not expect when three more of these creatures charged him from his side. He jumped over top of them and pushed them to the ground with the Force as well. "I do not want to hurt you. Stop this now." The creatures seemingly ignored him and got back up for more. The Jedi sighed, pulled out his saber and ignited the yellow blade, "I guess that I have no choice then." Namakwo charged the creatures, aiming for their legs. A few quick slashes later, he had them all on the ground, immobilized…or so he thought.

Although their legs were incapacitated, they continued to drag themselves along with their arms, screeching the whole time. With one final slash of his saber, Namakwo ended the encounter with a quadruple decapitation. He knelt down to examine their bodies and took out a small syringe like device. "I need to get a blood sample to analyze later. I think that…these things…whatever they are, used to be Toongs. But something terrible happened to them." Namakwo quickly injected the device to gather his sample. After he was finished, a small amount of blood oozed out of the extraction site, it was black mixed with the same glowing blue as its eyes and veins.

A few analytical scans later, the Mon Calamarian stood up and looked down at his wrist pad. "It looks like there were more of them. I'm picking up trace amounts of that blood substance on the ground forming a trail off to the east. Looks like they went that way. Well, what do you know? It's the same direction that the homing signal is coming from. Maybe whoever is responsible for this is also involved in Dallon's abduction."

After a few more hours of signal tracking, Namakwo came across a mountain in the midst of the jungle. There was a hill nearby with a lot of grass and brush on the top. "That'll do. Good vantage point with plenty of cover. Let's have a look."


	12. Chapter 12

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 12

Dr. Sienn'aris was on a private shuttle on her way back to Coruscant. She was a mix of thoughts right now. After the revelation on Myrkr, the Twi'lek was trying to get her thoughts in order so that she could speculate as to what all this meant. She was talking into an audio recorder for her future reference.

"This is the audio log of Dr. Sienn'aris, senior research doctor aboard the Jedi Praxeum ship Chu'unthor. I am currently returning from an expedition to the hidden planet of Myrkr in the Inner Rim. The purpose of this investigation was to gather evidence on a theory I had begun to construct regarding the properties of the compound MEC-2183. The initial evidence that I have collected seems to support my theory. MEC-2183 was previously thought to be a rare but inert mineral ore found mostly in asteroids near pulsars. However, new evidence now suggests otherwise. It appears that this compound, purified, when subjected to an electrical current, generates an energy field that changes the mass of all objects in that field without changing their volume. However, it only appears to have this ability in the absence of the energy field that the Jedi Order refer to as 'The Force.' That was the purpose of this expedition, to try to either prove or disprove this theory. The local fauna of Myrkr provided a unique opportunity to do this. It appears as though the native ysalimiri lizards have the natural ability to create voids around themselves where the Force does not exist. It is a self defense mechanism against the vornskrs, a predator species that hunt the ysalimiri using the Force. Using these natural Force voids, I was able to preliminarily show that MEC-2183 does have the aforementioned properties. Now this poses serious questions. Namely: What is the point of having this element with these properties if they are neutralized by the supposedly universal energy field known as the Force? Perhaps there was a time when the Force did not exist. Maybe there are still places in the galaxy or elsewhere where this is still true. Of course, this is still all speculation on my part. It's a good thing that Namakwo and Dallon aren't here to hear all this. They'd probably consider it blasphemy. Okay, that's enough for now. End of audio log."

The next week passed along smoothly for Dallon. During the day, he was a martial arts instructor at a local university. He also took some classes in Republic military history and strategy. When he wasn't teaching or going to class, he and Shayera did the various things that a married couple would be expected to do. He even had the chance to get together with his family for a visit. It was everything that he wanted. Every once and a while, his 'other memories' would resurface, but he quickly pushed them aside and returned to what he was doing. Every time that he did this, the 'other memories' became more distant and faded.

But soon enough, he started to notice things. Call them irregularities. It started during a class that he was taking in Republic military history. There were references to scattered sightings of giant and mysterious organic looking starships in the Outer Rim. He was fairly familiar with this subject and these sightings were not something that he was familiar with. He tried to brush it off, but he couldn't seem to do so. Perhaps it was the apparent reverence and awe that the references seemed to give to the subjects of the sightings, like they were worthy of praise.

But it wasn't just there. When he was at home with Shayera, Dallon noticed that she would say things that would conflict with each other. For example, they went to dinner one night and then when he mentioned it the next day, she looked at him like he was crazy. "What are you talking about Dallon? We didn't go to dinner last night. You were working, remember?" But he wasn't working. She told him it was just his memory issues again, but he disagreed. He remembered what happened. He was sure of it.

But the worst was what started to happen when he was working. It began after his last class had let out. Dallon was sitting in the office adjacent to the training area. He was finishing up a few things and preparing to go home for the day. That's when he heard it. It was only a whisper, but still quite clear and it sounded like it was right next to his ear. We are each a nation. "Who was that?!" He jumped up, startled. Dallon looked around, but there was no one there. Then from behind him, Independent, free of all weakness. He spun around to face the voice, but once again, there was only empty space. Dallon walked out of the office and into the training area. One of the walls in this room was mirrored and Dallon stood there, staring at his reflection. In a flash, his reflection had a shadowy and blurred appearance and its eyes glowed yellow. It opened its mouth and spoke one word. Nazara. Then Dallon was blown backwards in a huge rush of wind and landed on his back. When he sat up and looked at the mirrors again, his reflection had returned to normal.

"What is going on here? I must be losing my mind." As he sat there on the ground, trying to relax, he was met by a new sense of clarity that he had not had in some time. His 'other memories' started returning to his mind, fresher and clearer than ever. Not only that, but he started getting flashes in his mind of something new. It was hazy and hard to make out. He saw what looked like a metal floor beneath him as he seemed to just glide over the surface. No, wait, not gliding. He was being carried. Carried by four people in black hooded clothing. He could hear someone shouting in the background. What was being said? Da…Dal..Dallon! It was his name! Someone was shouting his name. Then the vision went black. When it reappeared he was lying on his back. He could tell that he was moving quickly because he saw treetops quickly buzzing by above his head. It looked like some sort of jungle. Again, a blackout. This time, upon clearing, the vision was of somewhere inside. There were metal walls everywhere. In one corner there was what looked like some sort of medical table, for putting patients, or subjects on. There were restraints for the arms and legs and some sort of headgear at the top. He was moving towards it. In another corner was a very strange looking device. It was composed of five claw like pieces of metal arranged in a tight circle and pointed upwards. The metal was a mix of dark purple and dark grey. There was some sort of blue and black energy flowing from the claws and into the center area between the pieces. It was then that he heard someone from behind him speak. Sith'ari. Again, the vision faded, but this time it was over and Dallon was back to sitting in the training area.

"I…I remember. We crash landed on Tund. Someone must have grabbed me after the crash and taken me somewhere. None of this is real. It's all an illusion. It must be the Sorcerers of Tund. Master Cordora warned us that they are masters of deception. I have to get out of here." Dallon stood up, "But how? I need to go home first." Dallon left the room and went outside to a speeder pad area where his vehicle was parked. Although it was in the middle of the afternoon, the sky was almost as dark as night. The whisper in his ear returned. Our numbers will darken the skies of every world. Dallon, no longer startled, said, "I need to hurry. They must know that I know." On the ride home, storm clouds quickly gathered in the sky. Thunder and lightning soon followed. You cannot escape your doom.

Dallon arrived home and quickly made his way inside. The lights were out. "Shayera? Are you home?" From another room, "In here Dallon." He followed the voice into their bedroom. Shayera was standing by the window, looking out into the storm. He approached her from behind. "Shayera…or whoever you are, it's over. I know what's going on." He reached out to turn her around to face him, but she quickly did so first. " Do you? Do you?" Her face had the same appearance that his reflection had had earlier. "Do you really know what's going on? I don't think that you do." Well, she was partially right. He knew that he was in an illusion. What he didn't know, was how to get out of it. Then the second precept of the Jedi Code came to mind: There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. The knowledge existed for him to break this illusion, he just had to find it. Perhaps if he thought of this like a dream. If he did something extreme enough then maybe the whole structure would collapse and he could escape.

He thought for a moment and then smiled. He had an idea, but he would need something first.

"It's time I take back control," he finally said.

"What are you doing?" Shayera asked.

He held out his hand and concentrated hard. A few seconds later, his lightsaber appeared in his hand. Dallon turned it on and watched the blue blade extend before him. "I am a Jedi."

Shayera jumped back in response. "You wouldn't hurt your own wife, would you?" Her face returned to normal.

"You are not my wife. You're not even Shayera. Besides, it's not for you." He flipped the blade around towards himself.

"No! You can't!" She screamed in desperation. "What about your family? Do you really want to live without them?"

His parents and siblings appeared in the room with him. His mother spoke, "Dallon, son, put that down. Let's just relax and talk about this."

His brother stepped forward, "Dallon, you don't need to do this. You're home now."

Dallon felt his resolve begin to falter. He looked at those around him and then back at his saber. "I…I…"

Namakwo was laid down flat on his stomach in the brush on top of the hill. He was carefully observing the surroundings: the entrance, the terentateks and their movements and the occasional Sorcerer of Tund that would come outside and walk around for a while. After several hours of watching this, he had become quite familiar with all the patterns. Unfortunately for him, the mountain itself was blocking his attempts at scanning the base's interior. Perhaps if I had a more powerful scanner, he thought, but the one in my wrist pad can only do so much. He was going over in his head the best way to sneak inside when something unexpected happened. The door opened. "Another guard," Namakwo said, "Right on sched…Hold on, is that…? It is. It's Janus. What is he doing here? Janus mentioned the Sorcerers, but not that he was working directly with them. That's strange. The Sorcerers are usually very wary of outsiders. What's his plan?"

Janus walked over to one of the Sorcerers standing outside and began to talk. Namakwo listened in with his wrist pad. "We need you inside right now." With that, both of them walked back into the complex.

"Hmm…this might be my chance. Although, it could be a trap. I guess it's a risk I'm going to have to take." Namakwo got up and sprinted for the door. Once he got there, opening it was a quick and easy matter thanks to his hacking skills. "Okay, first things first. I need to find Dallon." Before he could decide which way to go, the low rumbling of a distant explosion echoed through the base and was followed by a quick flickering of the lights "Well, I guess that's a good place to start."

Namakwo started to make his way deeper into the building, closer to the source of the explosion, hacking doors as he went. Oddly enough, he didn't encounter any resistance along the way. The Mon Calamarian finally came to large blast door and heard shouting on the other side. There were clearly several people in there. By the time the door opened however, he only saw one person standing in the middle of the room with several unconscious bodies scattered around him. It was Dallon. Except that he had an aura of what looked like blue flames surrounding him. He was breathing heavily and looking around him.

"Dallon!"

Immediately, his attention shifted to the door and his aura disappeared, "Namakwo. Is that you?"

"Sure is. I assume that all this ruckus is your handiwork?"

He laughed a little, "Well, you know, I had to do something until you got here." Although he tried to hide it, Dallon betrayed some distress in his voice.

"Dallon, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Namakwo realized that was a stupid question as soon as it left his mouth. Of course something was wrong, Dallon had just been abducted earlier. But he had to say something. Dallon was his friend after all.

Dallon put his head down in his hand for a moment before answering, "No, I'm not okay. But we can't worry about that right now. There are more important things going on. The artifact is here, somewhere on the base. Namakwo, it's dangerous. We have to destroy it."

"Unfortunately, there's more. I've discovered a few things myself, Dallon. There are at least half a dozen terentateks on the base. Janus is here as well. I've also found evidence that someone here has been performing horrific experiments on some of the local Toongs. They were turned into mindless, violent cybernetic creatures."

"Oh? Is that all?" Dallon asked sarcastically. Before Namakwo could answer, Dallon sighed, "We had better get started. We're going to need a plan."


	13. Chapter 13

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 13

They made their way over to a console to bring up schematics and surveillance systems of the base. Namakwo scanned over the live visual feeds, "We need to figure out where everybody and everything is so that we know where to go. So, Dallon, what happened?"

"They had me trapped in some sort of…illusion. It seemed to go on for days. While I was under, they must have had me near the artifact. I had flashes of when I was put under. I think that it was starting to affect my mind, change me. I sensed the same evil and ancient presence that I felt before. I did finally manage to break out and when I did, I discovered that I had only been in there for about half a day. In addition, the artifact was gone."

Namakwo looked away from the screen for a moment, "It looks like this artifact is a lot more dangerous than we initially thought. We might have to rearrange our priorities on this mission." He turned to one of the live visual feeds, "Ah, here he is. It looks like Janus is in a room adjacent to the docking bay."

"Coward! Probably planning his escape. I'll take care of him myself."

"Fair enough. Alright, but where's the artifact?"

"From what I saw in those flashes, that thing was big and heavy. They couldn't have moved it far. Try near where I was held. Here." Dallon pointed to a spot on one of the map schematics.

"Thanks. I'll do that." Namakwo searched through the live and recorded feeds for that area. "Wow, there it is. This thing is huge. It's probably about ten meters tall. I can only guess as to how heavy it is. But how are we going to destroy it?"

Dallon looked to a door behind them and pointed, "On my way here, I noticed an armory in the next room. There are most likely heavy explosives of some sort in there."

"Okay, good. I can take care of that. We should both keep an eye out for anything related to what they did to those Toongs that I mentioned earlier. I didn't see anything about it in those feeds. That just leaves the terentateks. There's far too many for even both of us to take on all at once. Perhaps if we had a way to separate them. They must be controlling them somehow. If we could find out how, that could help. Regardless, we should save them for last, after we have regrouped. I know you Dallon. Don't take them on alone."

"No argument here. I'm good, not crazy."

"Alright, let's get to work. May the Force be with us both."

Namakwo visually scanned the inside of the armory until he found what he was looking for, "Ah, detonite charges. These will work out quite well." The Mon Calamarian walked over and picked up one of the devices. "But hold on. What are the Sorcerers of Tund using detonite charges for?" Namakwo heard mechanical whirring and metallic clanking behind him. He turned around and saw a super battle droid behind him, wrist out and prepared to fire. Namakwo was a bit surprised, "There weren't any of those in the video feed." He quickly activated his saber and deflected the incoming fire. "I have to be careful, I can't let those munitions get hit." He carefully redirected some of the shots towards an empty wall, while several went back towards the droid. Although they hit the droid, they seemed to have no effect. "What? Impossible. I hit it dead on. Okay then, new strategy." The Jedi quickly closed the distance between him and the droid and introduced its torso to the business end of his lightsaber. He wasn't expecting the very organic scream that he heard next. Before his very eyes, the super battle droid fell to its knees and at the same time began changing its appearance until he saw a pure blooded Sith alien before him. The Sith species was thought to be all but extinct, however, it was rumored that exiled Sith priests had started the Sorcerers of Tund millennia before. Its eyes looked up at his in anger, "You don't belong here outsider, let us be." He slumped down to the floor and off to the side. Namakwo stared at the body on the ground for a few moments. The Sith species were thought to be extinct. He hated to think that he may have killed the last one. "No time for regret. I have to keep going." He picked up a few more of the detonite charges and continued toward his objective.

Dallon was very much focused on reaching his objective. In fact, it was nearly all that he could think about. I have to find Janus. I can't let him get away. Not after…after what he's done. He thought back to the illusion that he had been trapped in. He had faltered some at the end, but when it was all said and done, he was able to break it's hold. But at what cost?

As he continued on his way, something odd caught his eye. In one of the rooms he passed, there were large metallic spikes coming up out of the floor. "Hmm…These seem to look like the spikes that Namakwo told me he saw in that one settlement." He walked into the room to have a closer look. That's when he saw it. At his master's side, Dallon had seen many atrocities throughout the galaxy during the Clone Wars. However, what he saw in this room still gave him chills. There are some things that you never get used to. Further in the room were more of the spikes. However, these spikes had people impaled on them, Toongs to be more precise. There were six victims in total. He approached the closest one. Their bodies looked different. Their skin was a metallic grey and glowing blue veins ran all across it. Again, they matched the description of what Namakwo saw in that settlement. In contrast though, these bodies were quite motionless and Dallon sensed no life left in them.

Before Dallon could decide what to do next, he saw the spike closest to him retract into the floor, releasing the body on it. This was followed by the retraction of the other five occupied spikes. Then the bodies began to move and stand up. Then came the screeching. But...They're dead. However that didn't stop the creatures from lunging towards him. The Jedi quickly made short work of them with his lightsaber. Dallon never enjoyed the taking of life, but he knew that sometimes it was necessary. But, to be honest, he wasn't really sure that those creatures were still alive anymore anyway. He would have shown more hesitation if he had thought otherwise.

"I have to find out what's going on here." He looked around the room until he saw a computer console not far away. Dallon approached and pulled out a small device that Namakwo had given him. The Mon Calamarian had given it to him earlier in case he found any valuable information. It was designed to remotely hack into a computer system and download any relevant data. All Dallon had to do was place it nearby and turn it on. Which is exactly what he did. As the device started data mining, some of the relevant files started appearing on the screen. Dallon took this time to read through some of them.

"Oh no…"

Namakwo made his way into a large hall with doors on either end. There were about two dozen Toongs who were being herded into metal cages by several people in black robes. There were several different species present. One of them stood behind the others and was giving directions. She was a female Sith pureblood and she had an air of authority about her. This was clearly the leader. One of the other hooded figures walked up to her and began talking. Namakwo heard him call her Zesias. Fortunately, they were so focused on what they were doing that they hadn't noticed him hiding behind some storage crates. Just then, his wrist communicator began flashing. Dallon was calling him. He kept the volume low and whispered.

"What is it Dallon?"

"Namakwo, I've found something about what they've done to the locals, or more accurately, everything about it. I'll give you the full data later, but here's the short version. Those spikes that you saw in the outpost are the key and there are more of them here along with more of those creatures. Namakwo, they take their victims and impale them on those spikes. When this happens, the spikes release some sort of nanoprobes into their bodies. The nanoprobes are designed to attach themselves to adrenaline or a species equivalent of it. In this way, the nanoprobes can spread very quickly throughout the body after the impalement. The nanoprobes then start using organic matter from the host body to build cybernetic implants everywhere, as well as replicate themselves. These implants can control the body once the host dies. At that point they are just empty shells, husks of who they used to be."

"Well I think that I just found the next batch of test subjects. They have around 20 or 30 Toong locals in here. They're putting them in cages right now. I'm assuming for storage until they're ready."

"Unfortunately there's more to it. It looks like they're planning on using these converted creatures as suicide bombers. According to this, they want to use them to carry detonite charges into local settlements and set them off."

"That would explain all the heavy explosives in the armory. But what's their motivation here?"

"Well, the Sorcerers of Tund have always been unwelcoming of outsiders on the planet."

"Yes, but never to this extreme. What's changed? They must have known either the Jedi Order or the Republic would step in."

"Regardless, we can't let them succeed. Do you need help? I could meet up with you."

"No, I can handle this. I have an idea. Just keep looking for Janus."

"Okay, but be careful."

"Always."

Dallon had left the lab he was in and continued down the hallway. He knew, based on the schematics, that he was nearly at the docking bay. He wanted the chance to confront Janus. He told himself that it was because he wanted justice, balance. But part of him knew that it was more than that, something he shouldn't want. No. I will bring justice, nothing more.

At last, Dallon arrived at the docking bay and Janus was waiting for him. "You just couldn't go along with it, could you? You were given paradise and you rejected it."

Dallon felt his anger begin to flare a little as he became surrounded by the blue aura again, "Paradise? Paradise?! Do you have any idea what you did to me? Do you?!"

"I gave you what you always wanted, a family."

"But none of it was real. You gave me nothing more than a fresh reminder of what I've lost. I've spent years trying to put my past behind me and because of you, I had to say goodbye to my family all over again."

"What about Shayera? I know how you feel about her."

Dallon looked down for a second, "You're right. I do have feelings for Shayera. I can't deny that. Maybe it's love, I don't know." Then he raised his head back up to face Janus, "But that wasn't Shayera, just a cheap imitation. Besides, Shayera and I can never be. I've made a commitment to a higher cause. I'm a Jedi." His blue aura faded and then disappeared. "That being said, you're coming with me. On the authority of the Jedi High Council, I'm putting you under arrest for acts of terrorism against the Republic, kidnapping, false imprisonment and murder."

"Is that so, Dallon? Well, alright then. Come and arrest me, I dare you." Janus put his right arm out in front of him and then a glowing, orange and translucent gauntlet appeared on it. The gauntlet had a blade on it that spanned it's whole length. However the blade was pointed in instead of out. This was soon corrected when the blade began rotating at its base until it was pointing out. Dallon had seen a lot of weapons before, but not this one. It didn't matter though because he was sure that his lightsaber could cut through it.

Dallon pulled out his saber and ignited its blue blade, "Might as well add resisting arrest."

A smile formed across his face as Namakwo's plan came together in his head. If this works out, then I won't have to use my lightsaber at all. He pressed a few buttons on his wristpad and then spoke into it, "Zesias, report to the armory now. We need to talk." He pressed a few more buttons and then listened as his message was rebroadcast over the room's intercom system in Janus' voice. Zesias looked up to the ceiling as she listened and then back down to her subordinates, "Continue with what you're doing,. I'll be back." With that, she quickly left the room through the doors on Namakwo's side of the room. Namakwo watched her until she had left the room and he was sure that she was out of earshot.

"Okay, I'm only going to have about five or ten minutes max. I'd better hurry." There were four hooded figures left in the room at this point. Namakwo slowly made his way to the center of the room by the cages by dashing behind the many large storage crates that littered the floor. One of the guards was only a few feet away from him now. I hope this works. He approached the guard from behind and reached out to him through the Force, sending wave after wave of confusion into his mind. The dazed figure began to wander around aimlessly until Namakwo guided him into a nearby open and empty cage using Force enhanced mental suggestions. This soon caught the attention of two others in the room, who came over to investigate.

"What's going on over there? What are you doing?"

Namakwo waited until they were standing in front of the cage and then struck with a Force push, propelling them into the cage and knocking them unconscious. The Mon Calamarian left his cover and approached the last Sorcerer in the room, who quickly noticed Namakwo.

"You, outsider, freeze!"

Namakwo waved his hand in front of his face, "You do not need to worry about me. You want to unlock those cages over there."

The guard repeated monotone, "I want to unlock those cages." He then quickly did as he was told.

Then Namakwo continued, "You want to go join your friends over there now."

The hooded figure walked over to the cage and entered. The Jedi quickly followed behind and shut and locked it. Then he turned his attention to the Toongs in the room. "Alright everyone, please listen up. My name is Namakwo Ghec. I'm a Jedi representing the Galactic Republic. I'm going to do what I can to get you all out of here safely. So please follow me."

The hostages gathered together near Namakwo, who began to move toward the door. But before he reached it, it opened revealing Zesias on the other side. She walked into the room, "Why are the prisoners out of the cages? Where is everybody? What is…" She stopped when she saw Namakwo, "Well, well, well. What have we here? A Jedi. That would explain a few things. I'm assuming that you were responsible for that false message." Looking at the cage with the guards in it, "It also appears that my guards were no match for you. Well, let's see if we can find something more challenging then." She gave a quick whistle and then the door on the opposite side of the room opened, revealing two very angry looking terentateks.

A look of genuine concern appeared on Namakwo's face. "This was not part of the plan," he said as he grabbed his lightsaber, activated it, and watched the yellow blade extend.


	14. Chapter 14

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 14

Dallon had never fought Janus in one on one melee combat like this, so he decided to start off slow. One of the many things that he had learned under the tutelage of Master Cordora was to never rush into a situation blind. Granted, Dallon still found himself breaking this rule at times. He was still a padawan after all. But he was working on it.

He didn't know what Janus' fighting style was or anything about that strange orange gauntlet blade that he wielded. For the time being, Dallon stayed with the defensive Soresu form while he watched for patterns and weaknesses in Janus' movements. The Jedi occasionally made offensive strikes against Janus to probe his defenses. After a few minutes, several things become quite obvious. First, Dallon was wrong in his earlier assessment of the resiliency of Janus' weapon. Whatever it was, it was able to consistently hold up to strikes from Dallon's lightsaber. That was definitely surprising to him. There weren't that many materials that could resist a lightsaber's plasma blade and Dallon was familiar with most of them. But he had never seen anything like this before. _I have to figure out what that is._ Second, Janus may be skilled in infiltration, assassination and sabotage, but he was not a trained warrior. His moves were erratic and undisciplined. He was overly aggressive and did not have a proper defense set up. Not that offensive moves were bad in a dueling situation of course, but they should be well coordinated with ones defensive capabilities. That was not the case here.

Now that he had a better idea of what was going on, Dallon decided to switch over to Djem So. Djem So was a lightsaber form based off of Soresu. However, unlike the defensive Soresu, where one had to wait for an opportunity to counterattack, Djem So allowed its practitioners to create their own counterattack opportunities. This form variant was designed around facing another bladed opponent.

As Dallon began to press his advantage, his opponents moves became increasingly chaotic. Dallon sensed that Janus was starting to panic. After dodging the next strike, Dallon moved to disarm Janus. Using an opening, Dallon made a shallow slash against Janus' right shoulder, sparks flying as the saber made contact with the armor. This threw Janus back and off balance, while Dallon moved to strike again. This time he aimed for the black scorch line left by the earlier hit and plunged his saber into the armor, going all the way through to the other side. Dallon quickly pulled the blade back out and moved back, assuming a defensive posture.

Janus stood there, his whole right arm limp at his side, the orange blade and gauntlet had faded and disappeared. He was clutching his right shoulder with his left hand. Dallon spoke, "I'll say it again. You are under arrest. Drop any weapons you have and lay flat on the ground now."

Janus responded, "Drop any weapons, you say?"

Zesias spoke first, "Let me introduce to you my pets, Lukrut and Ariria. In case you are unaware, they're terentateks. They aren't particularly fond of strangers, as you can see. But they do love their play time. Remember to have fun."

"You'd kill all these people just to stop me?" Namakwo already knew the answer to that question, but he was just trying to stall while he formulated a plan.

"The subjects are expendable, we can always find more. You, however, are a threat and must be eliminated."

Namakwo stared down his opponents carefully. They were both almost twice his height and were probably three or four times as massive. He quickly ushered everybody behind him, putting himself between them and the terentateks. He looked back at them and sensed their fear. It was intense. Namakwo returned his gaze to the terentateks, which were now slowly approaching him. _I have to protect them._ He stepped forward and took a defensive posture. He knew he couldn't survive a direct assault, but perhaps he could try a repetitive hit and run strategy. _I have to keep the terentateks' attention on me, which shouldn't be too difficult considering that I'm Force sensitive. But I have to get the prisoners out of harm's way._

Turning behind him, "Everyone head for that corner over there. I'll handle this." Namakwo pointed to an empty corner of the room away from the terentateks and Zesias. The Toongs quickly herded themselves over there. The terentateks started to follow them. Namakwo shouted after them, "Hey! You two, over here!" He worked up his speed and went into a slide that took him in front of the beasts. As he did, he used his saber to attack their legs in one broad sweep. He jumped to his feet and turned back around. "You can't attack us if you can't get around." His strike had nearly severed the feet of both terentateks, which both lay on the ground howling in pain. Namakwo began to carefully approach the creatures in order to finish them off. But what happened next he was not expecting. The injured limbs began to reattach and fix themselves, healing in a matter of seconds. The terentateks stood back up and approached Namakwo.

Zesias mocked him, "You didn't think that it was going to be that easy, did you? You're going to have to do better than that to defeat them."

 _Great, now what do I do? Hold on, I have detonite charges. Well, I guess it's time to use them._

Namakwo watched the lumbering beasts slowly approach him. As discretely as he could, Namakwo armed one of the charges that he was carrying and set the timer for a three second delay. Then the Mon Calamarian turned around and waited until the creatures were just out of arm's reach before he made his next move. He quickly leapt over one of the creatures in a backflip and as he landed behind it, he used his saber to vertically cut the beast wide open. He took the charge, activated the timer and shoved it in the hole that he had just created. Then he did another backflip and put as much distance as he could between himself and the terentatek.

The charge exploded in a bright flash of light that sent pieces of the terentatek flying everywhere. The other one was knocked to the ground nearby and had visible burns all over its body. It took everyone in the room ten or fifteen seconds to shake off the shock and disorientation. The sound from the blast had been almost deafening.

Namakwo, with a smile on his face, turned to face the sith female "Is that good enough for you, Zesias? Or shall we continue?"

Zesias, however, looked unimpressed, "Not quite, Jedi. Not quite."

"What?..." Namakwo started to question, when he heard something behind him. He turned around just in time to see several pieces of the terentatek that he had just blown up fly through the air and reassemble themselves. The burns on the other creature were quickly disappearing. "I don't believe it." Namakwo stood there in shock. "This isn't…this can't be possible." He was so stunned that he didn't notice one of the revived terentateks approaching him. It reached out its massive arm and sideswiped Namakwo across his chest. As it did, its razor sharp claws cut through his clothing and sliced into his flesh. The force of the hit was enough to slam him into a nearby metal crate and knock his saber out of his hand so that it rolled along the floor to another part of the room. Screams of fear came from the Toongs huddled in the crowd. As he hit the crate, he felt multiple sharp pains in his chest. As he slid to the ground, he began coughing and tasted blood in his mouth. He tried to stand up, but before he could, he was violently pushed down against the floor. Namakwo found that his head was now beneath one of the terentatek's giant feet.

With a sadistic smile on her face, Zesias spoke, "Sometimes they like to play with their food first."

The beast slowly started applying pressure with its foot. Namakwo screamed out desperately in pain. He felt like he had the weight of a small building on his head, like it would be crushed at any second. The terentatek could have crushed his head quite quickly, but it appeared to be deliberately taking it slow. Namakwo didn't know how much longer he could last.

Janus used his good arm to reach down to a small compartment near his waistline and pulled something out. "How about this then? Perhaps you should hold onto it." He tossed a live concussion grenade right towards Dallon. The Jedi quickly scanned the room around him and saw that there were large crates of heavy munitions all around him. The only place that it was clear was in front of him. He Force pushed the grenade back towards Janus with the intention of moving it safely past and behind him. Unfortunately, it went off sooner then expected. In a fraction of a second, Dallon crossed his arms in front of him, firmly planted his feet on the ground and erected a Force barrier to protect himself. The explosion caused him to slide back on his feet a little. Janus, on the other hand, was thrown back onto the ground about ten or fifteen feet. Fortunately for him, his armor took the majority of the explosion's force. If not, he'd probably be dead. That being said, as Dallon approached, he saw that the armor took quite a beating. The area around his right shoulder had been totally blown away. Dallon knelt down by his side and saw the tattered remains of some sort of fabric undersuit beneath the armor. Underneath that was the cauterized stab wound made by his lightsaber earlier. A piece of his helmet was also missing, revealing his left eye and surrounding skin underneath. Whoever he was, he appeared to be human. Just then, Janus regained consciousness. Dallon found himself staring at a mismatched set of eyes, the blue one underneath the helmet on the left and the glowing yellow one on the right. When Janus spoke, it was a strange mixture of his natural voice and the synthetic one generated by the helmet. "This isn't over yet Jedi." He tried to sit up but then soon fell back down.

Dallon cut him off and quickly rolled him over so that he could bind his hands behind him. "Yes, it is. Like I said, you're under arrest." Dallon looked on his own belt until he found a set of binder cuffs and a hypo syringe. He applied the cuffs first and then pulled out the hypo syringe. These tiny containers had premeasured amounts of medical compounds inside them. This one was a broad spectrum antibiotic. He took it and injected it in Janus' right shoulder. He considered giving him a mild sedative as well to keep him calm. Then he decided against it when he realized that the blast may have given him a concussion. He shouldn't be giving sedatives to people who may have concussions. He'd have to make sure Janus had a medical scan later.

Now that he had Janus secured, Dallon was curious about who was really underneath the helmet. He reached over and tried to remove it but found it wouldn't budge. Perhaps the blast had jammed some of the components.

"Couldn't resist, could you?" Janus lightly chuckled.

"Well, with all the trouble that you've caused us so far, I'd like to know who to thank." Dallon said sarcastically as he helped him to his feet.

"Oh, there's no need to thank me. I'm just the messenger. You have no idea what's coming for you."

"Is that so? Well then why don't you tell me?"

"What? And ruin the surprise? I don't think so Dallon."

"That's what I figured. All right, come with me." Dallon led him to a nearby shuttle craft.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, from what Namakwo told me, your guys messed up our ship. So, for the time being, I'll be taking one of yours. Perhaps there are some parts we can salvage or information we can use."

"Speaking of which, perhaps you should focus a little less on our plans and a little more on Namakwo," Janus said deviously.

That caught his attention, "Why do you say that?"

"Well, you know, rescuing 25 hostages is quite a challenge when you're also taking on two terentateks at the same time. But what do I know?"

"You lie!"

"Don't believe me? Check for yourself."

Dallon calmed himself and reached out into the Living Force. He could sense the life forces of those around him. He searched around, looking for Namakwo's signature. When he found it, he noticed that it was weak and continuing to fade.

His blue aura began to appear again. "How did you know about this?! What did you do?!"

Janus started laughing, "Did you think that you were the only one who's been talking to me this whole time?"

 _He must be receiving communications from someone else in the building. He knew what was going on the whole time! He's been stalling!_

Dallon turned around, grabbed Janus' right shoulder and squeezed hard. "You've been wasting my time. If he dies…"

"You'll what? You'd better hurry, Dallon. Those terentateks are pretty nasty."

"Ahhh!" Dallon grabbed Janus, flipped him over his head and body slammed him onto the ground on his back. "You will NOT move from this spot until I return!" He quickly applied binder cuffs to his feet and then connected the cuffs on his hands to those on his feet with a third pair.

"Is that clear?!"

"No promises Dallon."

Dallon sprinted out of the docking bay as fast as he could, Janus' maniacal laughing in his ears the whole time. _I hope I'm not too late. Hold on, my friend, I'm coming._

Just when Namakwo thought that he would black out from the pain, the pressure on his head disappeared as the terentatek lifted its foot.

Zesias spoke, "We don't want you leaving us just yet."

 _This doesn't make any sense. None of it does._

Before he could get another thought in, he felt the claws of one of the creatures wrap themselves around his chest. He could barely breath. The next thing he knew, he was hurtling through the air again before crashing into another metal crate. As he lay there on the ground bleeding and bruised, he had an unexpected moment of clarity.

 _When I first got here and saw the terentateks outside, I was a stone's throw away, yet they didn't sense me. The whole time Dallon and I were here, we never encountered any until now. And even here, they went after the people first, with me in plain sight. It wasn't until after I directly engaged them did I attract their attention. They're supposed to be attracted to Force sensitive blood. When I looked through those surveillance feeds earlier, I did not see a single one. Then there's their revival abilities. It's unreal. Wait! That's it! Master Cordora said the Sorcerers of Tund are masters of deception._

Before he could continue, one of the beasts grabbed the top of his head and lifted him up into the air.

He heard Zesias' voice, "This has been fun. But it's time to finish things. Anything you'd like to say?"

"Yes, but not to you," he said hoarsely before staring straight at the terentateks. "You are not real. You're an illusion, nothing more. I don't fear you. You can't hurt them or me."

The terentateks both roared before vanishing in a brilliant flash of light. Namakwo fell and hit the ground with a thud.

Just as that happened, Dallon burst into the room. He saw Zesias turning around, ready to leave, and Force pushed her against a nearby wall, knocking her out. Then he ran over to Namakwo, who was lying on the floor, motionless. He got down at his side and realized that he wasn't breathing. He began resuscitation attempts while also shaking him, "Namakwo, can you hear me? Come on man, breathe." No response. He continued with his efforts, "You saved those people, do you hear me? I am not losing you now. Breathe!"


	15. Chapter 15

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 15

After about two minutes, although it seemed like much longer to Dallon, Namakwo gasped and his eyes shot open.

"There we go. That's it. Relax. Breathe. I thought I lost you there."

Namakwo chuckled lightly, "No, you can't get rid of me that easily." He tried to sit up.

"Careful now. Take it slow. It looks like you took quite a beating just now," Dallon cautioned. "Speaking of which, what happened? I heard that there were terentateks in here."

"They weren't in here. They never were. They weren't real, only illusions. I believe they were created by the Sorcerers of Tund to instill fear."

"Illusions? Those? I'd say that's crazy, but…after what I've experienced here, I'd believe it. But those injuries certainly aren't illusions."

Namakwo groaned as he remembered the pain he was in, "Ugh. Believe me, I know. But the job's not done yet and I can keep going. According to the schematics and surveillance feeds, the room that they're keeping the artifact in isn't far from here. We need to make sure it's destroyed. I found some detonite charges along the way that should do the job."

"Yeah, that ought to do it."

"I can handle the artifact, but I need you to take care of the Toongs over there."

"Are you sure?"

"Very. I've got this."

"Fair enough. Well, I was just in the docking bay and there were a few shuttles there that we could use."

"What about Janus? Did you find him?"

"Oh, I found him alright. He didn't stand a chance. Unfortunately I had to leave quite abruptly, so I tied him up as best as I could and told him to stay in the docking bay."

"But, he'll escape."

Dallon stood up and held out a hand to help up Namakwo, "Yeah, probably. But I stuck a tracer on him when he wasn't looking so I wouldn't worry about it."

Namakwo grinned as he got to his feet, "I should have known you'd have a plan. Alright then, we both need to get going. I'll meet up with you as soon as I'm done here." He reached out his hand and pulled his lightsaber over to him from across the room and put it back on his belt. Then he began walking over to the door, a little uneasy at first but then he settled out. When he reached the door he turned back towards Dallon, "See you on the other side. May the Force be with us." Then he was on his way.

Dallon turned to face the huddled group of Toongs in the corner. "Alright everybody. Time to go. Follow me." He kept an eye on the still unconscious Zesias as they all exited through the nearby door. The move to the docking bay was rather uneventful as they encountered no one. It would seem as though any remaining people there had fled. Dallon figured that they must have realized that they were outmatched once their illusions fell through. Still, Dallon remained on guard, just in case.

When they reached the docking bay, as expected, Janus was nowhere to be found. One of the nearby terminals displayed the simple text message, 'Better luck next time Dallon.' It wasn't signed, but he knew who it was from. One of the shuttles was also gone. Dallon looked around the room until he found a shuttle big enough to carry all the people with him. When he found one, the Jedi quickly went on board first and checked to make sure that it was safe. After he confirmed this, Dallon began ushering the Toongs onto the ship.

Namakwo entered a large room whose sole inhabitant was the artifact. Seeing it in the surveillance feeds didn't do it justice. Only in person could Namakwo truly appreciate just how impressive it was. As he slowly approached it, he started to feel some dizziness and tingling in his head. At first, Namakwo thought that they were just some lingering effects from the ordeal that he had just gone through. But as he drew closer, he realized it was something different. He began to hear faint whisperings in the back of his head that he couldn't quite understand. Yet subconsciously, he felt himself being drawn closer to the artifact.

Suddenly, nothing else mattered, only what was right in front of him. _Well hold on, what do we really know about this thing? How do we know it's bad? We shouldn't destroy it. It could help us. In fact, we should devote resources to study it, no better yet, to protect it. Yes, protect it at all costs. No. NO! NO! NO! I will not let this thing control me._

Namakwo sat down on the floor and began to meditate and re-center himself in the Force. He continued until the whispering stopped. "It's like this thing has a mind of its own. It's more dangerous than I thought. I have to finish this quickly. I have three charges left. I hope that's enough."

The Mon Calamarian took out the charges one by one and placed them around the artifact's base. Then he armed them and set them for a one minute delay. He started the timers and sprinted out of the room as fast as he could. Namakwo was in the next room when the charges exploded. The blast violently shook the room as the sounds of the explosion echoed off the walls and gradually became a low rumble. Once things had settled, he went back to check on his work. The door to the room was damaged and wouldn't open so Namakwo used his saber to cut his way in. The center of the room was dominated by a giant crater with a smoldering pile of rubble where the artifact once stood. Tiny pieces of it littered the entire room. Namakwo smiled and then turned around and made his way to his next destination. He had one more thing to take care of before he met up with Dallon.

Namakwo moved from room to room until he found a computer terminal that was connected to the base's main network. When he found one, he got started. He had some loose ends to tie up. Based off of the data that Dallon found, he couldn't just leave it there for them to start this again. Within a few minutes, he had hacked in, purged their database and crashed their network. "Hopefully this is all there is."

Ten minutes later, Namakwo, Dallon and the Toongs were all on the shuttle as it left the base. From there, they traveled to the nearest inhabited Toong settlement. The Jedi dropped off the previously captive Toong, to the great appreciation of the local populace, as well as get proper medical attention for Namakwo. The locals were so appreciative, in fact, that they supplied the Jedi with the materials that they would need to repair the _Morpheus_.

The next day, the two Jedi were on the bridge area of the _Morpheus_ , in orbit, preparing to make the jump back to Coruscant. Before they left, Dallon checked the receiver for the tracer that he had placed on Janus earlier. He could see a record of its path as it left the planet's orbit, but he lost track of it after that. Unfortunately, he couldn't follow the tracer when it was in hyperspace. However, as soon as it dropped out, he could continue to track it. But depending on Janus' destination, that could take some time. So he had no choice but to wait. As soon as they entered hyperspace, they took some time to talk.

"Dallon, now that things have calmed down a bit, I was hoping that we could talk. I was worried about you before. You didn't tell me about what happened before I got there. But it looked like it really bothered you."

"Yeah, sorry about that. A lot happened before you got there. Well, after we crashed the next thing I remembered was literally waking up into another life. I was married to Shayera and living on Alderaan. Not only that, but my family was still alive. I never became a Jedi. I was a normal person living a normal life."

"So what did you do?"

"Well, I resisted at first. But then things got more complicated. I still had all my memories of this life, but they seemed faded and far away. To make things worse, I had a whole new set of memories in my head to go along with this new life. They both seemed real. I didn't know what to believe. Everybody kept telling me that I had schizophrenia and that my life as a Jedi was just a fantasy that my mind had created. As time went along, it became easier and easier to believe them because my memories of this life continued to fade."

"But you were only in there for a matter of hours."

"That may be so, but for me it lasted for about a week."

"A week? Sorry, I had no idea."

"It's fine. The thing is, I wanted it to be real. I wanted to stay there. And to be honest, I almost did. But, eventually I started to notice things, things that didn't add up. They were small at first, but soon got bigger. And then, at some point, the illusion began to unravel and I was able to see it for what it really was. The problem was that I was still trapped inside it and had no idea how to get out. So I confronted the illusion directly and as I did, it actually fought to keep me there. It did everything that it could to convince me to stay. So I thought of it like a dream. If I could shatter it completely, then perhaps the whole structure would collapse. In all the nightmares that I've ever had, I always woke up right as I died. So I thought the same might apply here. In the end, I was confronted by illusions of my entire family and Shayera. But I still followed through with my plan and it worked. The next thing I knew, I woke up strapped to a table in a lab somewhere. After I escaped that, I ran into you."

"But there's something else, isn't there?"

Dallon looked away and sighed for a moment before continuing, "They hurt me, Namakwo. They used my family against me. They knew it was what I wanted, so they used it to keep me trapped there. For what reason, I don't know. Then I had to sever myself from them all over again. It was like I was a child again and was reliving it. I knew it wasn't real, but it felt real. And now I don't know if I'm more angry at them for doing this to me or at myself for being weak enough to fall for it in the first place." He looked like his composure was faltering. Then he stood up and began to leave the room, "Excuse me, I'm sorry. I need to go."

Namakwo had no idea that his friend had been holding onto this burden. He had hidden it quite well before, but now he had never seen Dallon look so broken. Namakwo stood up and went over to Dallon and stopped him by grabbing his shoulders. He turned him around to face him. "Dallon, listen to me." Dallon's head was down in shame. "Look at me." Namakwo used his hand to lift Dallon's head. His emotions were made quite evident by the tears on his face.

"Dallon. I'm your friend. I want you to listen to me. We've all experienced pain of some sort at various points in our lives. You have, I have. Now, admittedly, I haven't lost my family like you have so I couldn't possibly know what that's like. And I'm sorry that you had to relive all that again so fresh. But, the thing is, your family is never really lost to you. They will always be a part of who you are. And that is part of why our connection to the Force is so special. Through it we are part of something so much greater. Also, don't be ashamed of your emotions. They are a natural part of who we are. Just don't let them control you." Namakwo embraced his friend and did what he could to console him and then continued, "You need some time by yourself, it's part of healing. In the meantime, just think about what I said."

Dallon, looking somewhat relieved, nodded in recognition and went down to the lower deck to spend some time by himself.

Namakwo spent the next few hours going through the data that Dallon had retrieved earlier regarding the experiments on the Toongs. There also appeared to be some data on the artifact that they had found and destroyed. He was relieved to see that. Although he knew that the artifact had to be destroyed, it was still a shame because he thought that they wouldn't be able to study it at all. Finding this data about it was an unexpected surprise. _It appears as though they learned of the processes used in their experiments through the artifact itself. They actually interacted with it. Does that mean it was a data repository of some sort? Or perhaps a communications device?_ Namakwo continued to ponder the implications of what they had found.

Meanwhile, Dallon was on the lower deck in a mix of meditation, thought and recollection. After thinking back to the last mission, he began to better understand the power that he had felt before and the blue aura that accompanied it. It seemed to be brought on by intense emotional output. Which would explain why he hadn't been able to recreate it before. He had always been taught to set aside his emotions. But this last mission had been different. He had found his emotions hard to control. However, he had to admit that this ability, whatever it was, had advantages. It seemed to enhance his strength and Force abilities and it even allowed him to use his abilities in areas where the Force was absent. But it was the trigger for this ability that concerned him. He was concerned that it could lead him on a path to the dark side. Then he thought about what Namakwo told him. _Emotions are a natural part of me. They can only lead me to the dark side if I let them_. He decided to think more on that later. He moved into meditation and used the Force to enhance his memory recall. He began to remember his parents, his siblings- his family. Not some false illusions wearing the skin of his family and meant to manipulate him. These were his true and unaltered memories of his family, without any strings attached. He felt calm and at peace. Dallon realized that this was the same state that he had experienced back on the asteroid when this power first manifested, after he gained control of it. In fact, it was what had allowed him to control it. He had forgotten about it until now. He promised that he wouldn't again.


	16. Chapter 16

NOTE: Star Wars and Mass Effect are not my creations nor are any of the original characters, locations, etc from these works. Star Wars is the work of Lucasfilm and Disney. Mass Effect is the work of Bioware and EA. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the original authors.

Chapter 16

A few days later the two arrived back at Coruscant. As soon as they dropped out of hyperspace, Dallon checked the receiver for his tracer and saw that it was picking up a signal. It was located somewhere in the Deep Core region, a few light-years from the Tython system. The signal disappeared a few hours later. That meant one of two things, either Janus jumped to hyperspace again or he found the tracer and destroyed it. Tython was where the Jedi Order began, over 25,000 years before. The strange thing was that, as far as Dallon knew, no hyperspace routes currently existed to Tython. The chaotic and intense gravity of the Deep Core would occasionally erase existing hyperspace routes. Repaving them was no small feat.

As before, Dallon and Namakwo spent most of the next day discussing the details of the mission with their respective masters and several members of the Jedi High Council. The testimonies of some of the previously captive Toongs were also recorded. Then the Council spent some time in deliberation. When they were finished, they summoned for the two padawans.

In the High Council chambers, it was a similar scene. Some members were physically present, others by hologram. The only difference from last time was who.

Yoda spoke and began the meeting, "Welcome back, padawans. Something special the Force has planned for you, it would seem. My heartfelt gratitude you both have for your work on Tund. Through your actions, much tragedy did you prevent."

Obi-wan continued, "Which is part of why we are here. As you have seen, a Jedi's ability to perceive deception is critical if they are to succeed. This is the purpose of the Trial of Insight. Unfortunately, Jedi are also sometimes forced to endure great pain, in many shapes and forms. The Trial of the Flesh is a product of that unfortunate reality."

Plo Koon spoke next, "Dallon, through advanced technology and the deceptive skills that the Sorcerers of Tund possess, they placed you in a convincing mental illusion of an alternative and utopian life. However, you were able to see through this trick and break free."

"Master Koon," Dallon spoke, "With all due respect, the only reason I was able to see through it at all was because of inconsistencies in the illusion itself. I do not deserve any special recognition for that."

"You think too little of yourself, Padawan." Plo Koon smiled, "You accomplished far more than you think. Some of the data you obtained from their network was related to the technology used to create that illusion. There were also biometric logs taken during the time that you were under its influence. An examination of this data suggests that the illusion was flawless. However, many times the Force is able to perceive things that we alone cannot. So we must sometimes rely on the Force to help us see through deception. It is our belief that your subconscious mind heard and understood the Force's call. Some of those inconsistencies were likely a manifestation of your subconscious mind trying to communicate with you."

Dallon was stunned, "Thank you Master. I hadn't considered that." Then his face grew concerned again. "But some of the inconsistencies that I saw were quite dark in nature. I find it hard to believe that they were the will of the Force."

Mace Windu answered, "They weren't. The recovered data also showed that they began experiments on you when you were under. Apparently the artifact you found emits some sort of energy signal. Long term exposure can alter thought patterns. They wanted to study those changes on you. Fortunately they didn't get very far. Your exposure was too short to cause any lasting effects. We believe that the darker elements of the illusion were related to this exposure. Perhaps again your mind was aware of what was going on and these were warnings."

Ki-Adi-Mundi spoke next, "That brings us to the next part. We know the temptations that you faced in that illusion and what you sacrificed to break free. You could have chosen to stay in that utopian fantasy with your family. But you chose to put a higher cause before yourself. Nevertheless, the bonds of your family were close. Having to break them for a second time must have been agonizing. Your biometric data suggests that you experienced the same amount and type of emotional distress as you did as a child when your family died. You may not bear any physical scars from this, but, at times, emotional pain can run even deeper. Thank you for your sacrifice Dallon."

Dallon bowed silently.

Yoda looked to Namakwo and spoke, "Your contributions must we also recognize. In many forms of deception are the Sorcerers of Tund skilled. Many of the senses can they fool. Always rely on them we cannot. Brought you clarity the Force did, new conclusions could you reach."

Obi wan was next, "Although we are relieved that the terentateks were not real, the level of realism present in these illusions is very disturbing. They could be used with devastating effect against an untrained and unsuspecting civilian population. Your reasoning saved not only your life, but also the lives of those captive Toongs and maybe more. Also, the fact that you were able to figure this out while under such physical duress is quite admirable."

Plo koon continued the speech, "Speaking of which, regardless of the terentateks' illusory nature, the physical harm that they caused you was very real. The fact that the illusions were used as a form of torture against you is absolutely atrocious. That being said, you chose a path that almost guaranteed great physical pain and possibly even a gruesome death for yourself in order to protect the innocent. For this, we thank you."

Like Dallon before him, Namakwo also bowed in quiet recognition.

Everyone's attention turned to Yoda, who stood and began to talk, "The decision of this Council it therefore is that pass the Trials of Insight and Flesh you both have. An unusual procedure this is, but unusual circumstances these are. Awaits you now, only the Trial of Spirit does. But know that the most difficult of all trials do some padawans find this."

Although this was a very formal setting, both padawans could not completely contain their elation. They looked at each other, smiled, turned back to the Council, bowed again and with noticeable enthusiasm in their voices said, "Thank you, Masters."

Yoda then continued to speak, "However, conclude our business this does not. First, concern we have about this artifact and the knowledge it contained. Nothing like it have we seen before. Still investigate this we will.

Also, an opportunity the Force seems to have presented us. Our understanding it is that our enemies were tracked to the Deep Core. Near Tython, our ancestral home, they may be. A coincidence this is not, more to this story there is. Hmmm…but great caution we must take, for a trap this may be. Right the time is, for you to be told."

The two padawans looked confused, Namakwo spoke for them, "Told what, Master Yoda?"

Yoda sighed then looked at Mace Windu who continued for him, "Several months ago, before you returned to the Temple, some of our long range sensors detected unusual energy readings near the Tython system. Although it is not known to many, a hyperspace route has been recently reestablished there. We had wanted to send several Jedi there to investigate, but the Clone Wars have stretched our resources far too thin. We simply couldn't afford to divert anybody to this mission. However, we later received word that the two of you would soon be returning to the Temple to take the Trials. If you passed, our intention was to assign both of you to investigate these strange readings as your first mission. But then events took an unexpected turn and forced us to proceed differently. Now your tracer signal places Janus in the same location as the strange readings. It seems as though it is all connected."

"On how to proceed, a decision must be made. Deliberate we will. May the Force be with us all." With that, Yoda concluded the meeting.

It was eventually decided that they would wait for the next message from Janus before they took any action. Although they had a location, there were far too many risks and unknowns to jump in early. In the end, they favored caution over a possible preemptive strike. So they waited for the next message and waited…and waited.

"You fool! You've led them right to us. My plans are far too important to be ruined by your treachery." The black robed figure tossed the man in the damaged armor back and forth between two walls. "You're lucky that you share that body with Janus or I'd kill you right now!"

"Share?" The injured man said, "I've been a slave in my own body for the past five years! I've been forced to bear witness as you and your lackey Janus commit this atrocity."

"Apparently you've been doing more than just watching. You allowed the Jedi to track you."

"Did you think that I'd just sit back and do nothing? Maybe I'm stronger than you thought."

"That is not a mistake that I will make again." As the hooded figure said this, a thick, black and electrified smoke began pouring from his hands towards his target.

 _No!_ the armored man thought _Not again. I've worked too hard to regain control. If that stuff reaches me, Janus will be back stronger than ever and I'll be trapped for good_. He struggled to move against the Force grip that was holding him in place. He slowly inched his hand toward a concussion grenade that he had on his belt. Just before the smoke reached him, he managed to grab the grenade and throw it towards the dark robed figure. When it exploded, the smoke instantly vanished and both people were thrown back, away from each other. The man in the armor quickly got up and ran as fast as he could out of the room and down the hallway. From there it was a quick dash to the docking bay and onto the same ship that he had come in on. He blasted out of that space station and never looked back.

"I need to find them," he said as he entered the hyperspace coordinates for Coruscant and activated the jump.

Soon after their meeting with the Jedi High Council, Dallon and Namakwo were contacted by Dr. Sienn'aris. She had wanted to meet with them to discuss something. They went to meet her in the Temple Archives.

Along the way they talked. Dallon started off a little awkwardly, "Namakwo, I know that we've been busy since we got back, so I haven't had a chance to say this yet. I wanted to thank you for helping me out after we left Tund. I was a mess, but you were there for me. Thank you for being my friend."

"You're welcome Dallon. Friends look out for each other. You did the same for me in the base. Speaking of which, thank you as well."

"No problem."

With that, they arrived in the Archives and saw that Dr. Sienn'aris was there waiting for them.

"Doctor," Namakwo greeted, "It's good to see you again."

She returned the greeting, "You as well, Namakwo. And you too, Dallon."

Dallon nodded to her in recognition, then asked, "So how can we help you Doctor?"

"Well, my research has led me to some startling possibilities and I need some new insight and perspective. I can look at data archives and journal entries all I want, but there are certain things that I simply can't learn from them. I need to know about the Force, from a Jedi's point of view."

Namakwo and Dallon looked at each other, both surprised and confused, then back at the Twi'lek. Namakwo spoke first, "Well, what exactly are you looking to know? The Force is a big subject."

Dallon added, "And understanding it is something that takes many years of practice and personal experience."

Sienn'aris continued, "Well perhaps first I should explain my motives. Since we took those ore samples from the asteroid, I've been studying MEC-2183 and its properties. Through some trial and error I have come to the initial conclusion that the ore does have the properties that Janus described, but only in the absence of the Force. I believe that the Force is somehow nullifying the ore's natural properties."

Both padawans were speechless for about ten or fifteen seconds before Namakwo finally said something, "I've never heard of such a thing, it doesn't even make any sense. Why would something only have these properties in the absence of the Force. The Force is universal. Unless…" He looked at Dallon.

Realizing where Namakwo's thoughts were leading, Dallon countered, "You can't be serious. Think about what you're saying."

"I know," he said, "but…what about the asteroid? And you yourself said that it happens naturally on Myrkr."

Both Jedi looked like someone had told them the sun would not rise tomorrow.

Dallon looked back at the Twi'lek with suspicion, "What exactly are you trying to imply Doctor?"

It looked like they were coming to the same conclusions that she had earlier. Seeing the mistrust and disillusionment in their eyes, she went on the defensive, "Guys, I'm sorry. I was worried that this might happen. Believe me, I'm not trying to break down or insult your beliefs. All I know is that I have this data and I'm trying to figure out what it means. I came to you to help me with that."

That seemed to reassure them a bit. Then, after a deep breath, Namakwo answered, "Very well, Doctor. Fair enough. I apologize, but you unloaded quite a lot on us at once."

"I know. I'm sorry, but there was no easy way to say it."

Just then, Dallon's wrist communicator beeped. It was Master Cordora. Dallon answered it, "Yes Master? How can I help you?"

"Dallon, is Namakwo with you right now?"

"Yes he is. We're both in the Archives talking with Dr. Sienn'aris about her current research."

"Okay, good, you're together. You're all needed right now. It's Janus."

"Has the message arrived?"

"No, he's here, at the main entrance. He's surrendered himself to our custody. I need you up here now."

"Yes Master."

As soon as he said that, all three of them sprinted as fast as they could out of the room.


End file.
